Slow Turn
by tinedanzer
Summary: Sequel to Slow Burn. Runs in background of RotF. Natty learns to deal with her loss and finds allies along the way. She struggles to hold on to her humanity while playing her role as a Decepticon infiltrator.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** I got stuck on For the Sake of My Brother. So I figured I'd go ahead and start posting the sequel to Slow Burn. It's almost finished being written, so it should be safe to start posting this. I hope. Lol. Please post your opinions. This one does not have all the mech sex in it. There will be sex towards the end, but for now, not so much. This follows RotF for the most part. I've taken some artistic license in a few places, but otherwise, this story runs in the background of RotF.

Enjoy. Let me know your opinions.

 **Chapter 1**

Cold cement. Salty tears. Distant thunder through the steady rain. Echoing sobs. Emptiness. Aching, piercing, bone deep, lonely emptiness. _He promised._

He's gone. Forever. And only the emptiness remains. A deep, sucking vacuum where his smirking dominance once reigned. Emptiness.

And then the _lonely_ closed in, pressing harder than before, brought into sharp relief by the physical definition of the hole he left behind.

I just wanted to die, right there in that hangar. I wanted to go all the way back to the accident and tell Skyfire to just let me go. It would have been so much better if I'd never survived at all. I wanted to lose myself in the depths of insanity so that I would never have to face this loss, but my psyche wouldn't crack that far. It was all unfair. I was never supposed to love this deep. He was never supposed to die. I followed him to Earth, why couldn't I just follow him into his death?

A smooth metal snout pushed against my shoulder as a silver, cat-like body lay down next to me. I turned my head just enough to peer through my tangled hair at Ravage. His large, red optic focused on my face, but he said nothing. He had taken a new form for his mission on earth just like everyone else. We had all received upgrades, even me. Skyfire copied some of the cat's stealth technologies giving me the ability to conceal all of my energy and tracing signals making me completely human to every inquisitive sensor. He'd also given me a holographic imager, I could now make myself appear to be anything or nothing at all. It would be handy, if I ever got up off the floor. But right now, that just wasn't possible.

"I miss him too."

I blinked at the Decepticon's unusual candor. "Rav…" my voice was hoarse from hours of crying. "What do I do now?" If anyone could find a way out of a mess, it was always Ravage. He simply stared back at me. Drawing a shaky breath, I draped one arm over the cat's neck. He flicked his ears at me, but did not make any effort to move. "I had no idea I could hurt this much." Continuing to stare at me, he sighed heavily. "Does… does it ever get any better?"

"No. You just learn to live with it."

I squeezed my eyes close, grimacing with the fresh round of pain brought in by his answer. "Will I ever stop missing him?"

"No."

"I want to die."

"I know."

"Rav. What do I do now?" I asked again.

Staring at me for a moment longer, he finally said, "Barricade has a plan."

"No. No plans, no missions… I can't do this anymore."

"You can do _this._ Just listen. Barricade says he knows who has Frenzy's head. He has a plan to get it back. Then we can give Zee a proper send off." He paused for effect. "Closure, Natty. But we need your skill set for this mission."

"Why would you need me? What skill could I possibly possess that anyone else doesn't already have in spades?"

"This is a mission of infiltration. We need a human."

"Just use a holoform, then. Leave me out of it."

"Natty, I realize you are trying to prove yourself useless so that you can be taken offline, but that would be a terrible waste. You would disgrace his memory by conceding defeat in that manner. We need a human with Cybertronian tech for this mission."

"Rav… where is he now?" He cocked his head at me, both ears steadily pointed forward. "Humans believe their souls are eternal. When we die we go on to another plane of existence somewhere. Is there something like that for Cybertronians?"

"Yes. We all join with the Matrix in the end."

"Will I go there?"

"I don't know, Natty."

"Do you think I'll ever see him again?"

"Possibly. If you do, he may ask how you honored his death. What will you tell him, Natty?"

I shook my head, offering a weak smile, "I'll tell him that Ravage doesn't play fair."

* * *

If there had been any observers, they would have seen a young woman in her middle twenties exit the back of an abandoned hangar and get into the passenger side of a police cruiser. Short, blue jeans, white t-shirt, blonde chunked brown hair dropping down in long braids at either side of her head. The only odd thing about this car was the markings: it bore the emblem of a top notch university's security team located quite some distance from where the vehicle was currently parked. But there were no observers—Barricade never left witnesses.

Out of habit, I snapped the seatbelt into place as soon as I hit the seat. On a second thought, I was glad for the habit. Barricade is quite the show off, having been a drag racer long before the war, he was known for his reckless roadwise antics. Sighing and mentally questioning why I was even here, I said, "Alright, let's have it."

"I will not tolerate any poor behavior such as before."

"Right. Well, the shock has ebbed a bit, so…" I shrugged.

"You will be taken offline at the first sign of-"

" _Do it_!" I hissed, leaning forward toward the dash board. " _Please_! Put me out of my misery. I… have… _nothing_ … _left_ , Barricade."

"You have revenge. I have a plan that will give you just that."

I slumped back into the seat. I was never really the vengeful kind, but the idea of obtaining all the pieces of Frenzy's body so that we could give him a proper send off was very appealing. "I'm listening."

The black and white mech explained my part in the mission as he weaved down an interstate at excessive speeds. The windshield displayed names, faces, and locations while he broke down the details for me. A teenager I had never met before, named Samuel Witwicky, was attending Princeton University at the government's expense. According to Barricade, this boy was in possession of the tape's missing remains. My part was simple. I needed to get close to him and bring him out to a prearranged location where Megatron and Starscream would be waiting with sadistic Decepticon medic named Doctor. They had some unfinished business with the boy, something to do with an Allspark shard. Along the way, I was free to ascertain the location of any other Cybertronian tech—incliduing Frenzy—by any means necessary. Barricade had already enrolled me into the same classes and placed me, as a new Freshman, in the dorm room next door to Sam's. Meanwhile, he would be in disguise as campus police for back up and support. Skyfire and Blackout would be stationed nearby on call.

It had not been lost on me the forces at work here. As soon as I had called him a liar, I knew that Barricade was mentally scheduling my termination—my death—at his earliest convienence. And I was okay with that. The fact that I was here, riding along with him, still part of his "plan," spoke volumes of the command level intervention asserted on my behalf. Furthermore, Decepticons _do not_ associate with those marked for termination, not even remotely, lest they be terminated them selves for the sake of the association. Although I appreciated Ravage's pep talk, he had not come as a friend to console a friend. He was sent in to motivate me. Why all this effort on my behalf? _Skyfire_.

It would suffice to say that my termination would be a staggeringly painful experience for him. A portion of his own spark would be extinguished and recovering from that would certainly take time. Not to mention the fact that a true human intelligence was necessary on this current mission. Undoubtedly it took significant convincing to sway Barricade's decision on my termination, but not on my necessity to his plan. In truth, however, the Seeker had grown fond of me since the accident. He had obviously exerted considerable rescources to pull me off the floor of the abandoned hangar. And although he was currently a wall of indifferent silence through our spark borne connection, that was more an avoidance of dealing with my agonized sorrow seeping across then anything else. In short, my big brother was looking out for me.

To repay him, I would need to be an obedient little minion for Barricade. That grated against my nature on the best of days, but as it stood now, I really didn't have much fight left in me. I listened to Barricade's mission brief intently, careful to ask appropriate questions to show I was attentive. My intention was to perform as best I could, and then disappear. If that would be possible. Of course, if I failed, I would likely be terminated immediately, and at the moment, that offered an appealing alternative. Except that it would hurt Sky.

"You want me to what?" The suggestion made just now snapped me back into a defensive posture.

"It will likely be necessary to engage in carnal acts in order to lure the target to the objective as well as uncover necessary information regarding the location of our collegue's missing remains."

"You want me to fuck him," it was rhetorical, but he answered anyway.

"Yes."

"Of all the sick, twisted, _stupid_ , God damn, mother fucking, half formed ideas…! You've really crossed the line, Barricade! That is not happening!" I slammed my metal fist onto the dashboard in front of me and the cruiser fishtailed through heavy traffic in angry response. "When did I become the designated Decepticon whore?"

"Did I not warn you at the outset that poor behavior will result in your immediate termination?"

One hand rubbed at my eyes while the other clutched at the seat to keep from getting thrown around inside the cab of the wildly careening mech. When Barricade drives angry, everybody pays. "Yeah, you did. I have nothing to lose, remember? Put me down right here and now if it suits you. I don't care."

"Consider this your final warning. Next time I will simply take you offline."

I blinked at the uncharacteristic mercy shown. Something more was going on here that I was clearly not aware of. Deciding to play nice, I offered, "I'm not fucking a teenager just to get information. There's bound to be better ways. Something more productive and less demeaning."

"Secure the information by any means necessary and bring the target to the objective. Whatever the personal cost, _make it happen_."

I glared out the passenger side window, not wanting to discuss this any further, and remained that way for the rest of the trip.

As we pulled off the freeway, taking the exit marked for the University, Barricade broke the silence once more. "Livewire, I defer to your human nature to cover the minor details for maintaining your cover. It is imperative that you do not break cover during the course of your mission here. NEST teams have been hunting us using Cybertronian technologies borrowed from the Autobots. If your cover is blown, if you become a NEST target, _no one_ will assist you."

I smirked, "Good to know." I gazed out the window at a yellow "M" as the mech turned onto a main road, accelerating with mild recklessness, relying on his police cruiser markings to excuse himself. Suddenly I really wanted a cheeseburger. Up until now, I had maintained the continuity of my flesh side by drinking horrible tasting protien shakes concocted by Skyfire. I had a large stash of them stored in a bag on the floor next to my feet. Was it possible for me to consume a cheeseburger? Even if I couldn't actually eat it, I could atleast enjoy the flavors and smells if I spit it out rather than swallowing. Right? Pondering the tastes of home, it occurred to me that before we arrived at the school, there were some things I needed to pick up to aid the ruse. Behind the infamous burger joint was an equally infamous super store. "Barricade, pull in here."

"I fail to see how a diver—"

"Just do it!" I snapped. "You said you deferred to my human nature to cover the minor details. There's a few things I'm gonna need to make this look real." I paused realizing the mech hadn't slowed or even changed lanes. "Trust me on this one."

With an unitelligible grumble, the cruiser cut across two lanes of traffic and veered into the parkinglot causing many slamming brakes and swerving vehicles in his wake.

Glancing out the back window, I snickered, "So much for cover!"

"My cover is intact. Mind your own," he growled. He stopped at the far end of the parking lot taking up several spaces.

I sprang out of the vehicle, grateful to be on my own two feet for a change and bounced off in the direction of the store without so much as a backward glare. Walking past an inattentive shopper placing groceries inside her car, I swiped the wallet from her purse still sitting inside the cart. I would need the plastic cards, but not the actual moneys they represented. Stealing from the store was no better than stealing from the individual, I chided myself, but I couldn't think of a better option at the moment. It's not like _I_ had a bank account anymore. Pulling a card from the wallet, I dropped the leather piece on the ground as I walked along, assuming a holographic image identical to the woman from whom I had pilfered the card.

My shopping spree satisfied, I piled my college dorm essentials onto the belt in the checkout lan and proceeded to swipe the card, placing my mechanoid right hand on the reader to interrupt the encoding and program the transaction to be accepted without actually contacting the bank. After restacking my cart with my ill-gotten gains, I dropped the stolen card nonchalently next to the card reader and strolled off quickly, ignoring the calls of the cashier and changing my hologram back to that of a young blond college student as I passed through the doors. Astonishingly, no one noticed the abrupt change in my appearance. Shaking my head, I shrugged it off and pushed the squeaky buggy all the way to the back of the parkinglot where Barricade was playing smash the pigeons.

The mech squealed to a halt nearly on top of me, pushing me back a step with the momentum. "Open your trunk," I demanded, smacking the back of the cruiser. He sat still and silent. I rolled my eyes, acquiescing, " _Please_ , open your trunk… Mission Commander Barricade."

Without a word, the trunk snicked open and I neatly stacked my acquisitions inside, wondering how this was going to look when I arrived and pulled all my dorm stuff out of the back of a Campus Security Vehicle. Hopefully we were arriving early enough that there would be few witnesses and fewer questions. Well, I could always play the sultry evasion card. I'd better make this a very quick mission. The longer I stuck around, the more vulnerable I would become.

My dorm room appropriately decorated in nauseating pinks and sunny yellows, cute kittens and sexy guy posters, I surveyed the appearance with satisfaction and a simultaneous replusion. I had never been a girly girl. Pink grated on my nerves. Sighing heavily, I selected a light blue baby doll dress and brushed out my newly bleached blond hair. The only hologram I needed to maintain was to cover my considerable metal alloys, but otherwise, I would not be expending much energy on disguise. A knock on my door was followed by a nervously cheerful male voice calling hello. Dropping the brush, I peered through the peep hole spying an average sized young man with a mop of curly, black hair and a somewhat arabic ethnicity. Blowing my breath out through puffed cheeks I answered, "What?"

"Hi! M-my name is Leo. I'm… um… I'm going to be your next door neighbor for the next year. I thought maybe we could meet up and discuss stereo volumes and maybe I could help you set up your computer or whatever…" His voice trailed off and I almost felt sorry for him. His awkwardness was indicative of a severely socially inept computer nerd with not the slightest idea what to do with a girl if she'd landed in his lap begging for it.

"Nah, I'm good." I turned away from the door, but he knocked again.

"Hey, we're ordering pizza—me and my friends. Would you like some?"

Alright, I thought, time to set the stage here. If this kid was Sam Witwicky's future roommate, he could be useful, but I needed to subdue him right away. I cracked the door open, striking a pose against the frame and flashing a bright smile. "Yeah! That sounds great! Listen," I traced my finger over the buttons on his shirt, "I have a bit more decorating to do in here, so… " tilting my head forward and gazing lusciously up through thick lashes, "why don't _you_ go ahead and order it and let me know when it gets here. Okay?" I started to close the door as his jaw dropped open and before he could begin to drool, but paused reopening it to add, "Oh, and no meats. Veggies only!" It wouldn't do not making difficult demands to complete the manipulation. I snapped the door shut with my final words and stood back smiling grandly. Player in her element. This was all too easy.

When the pizzas arrived, I walked out into the hallway, grabbed the entire thing and slammed my dorm room door behind me, giggling at the shocked expressions on all three nerds' faces. Dominance asserted, check. The smell of the pizzas was tantilizing, but my current hunger was centered on a cheeseburger. Dropping the pizza out the window, I pondered once again the likelihood of actually being able to eat one. Sitting at the small desk and staring blankly at the new laptop and it's dancing screensaver, I picked up the pay as you go phone I had "aquired" along with all the other acquisitions and began activating it while simultaneously opening a direct comm link to my Decepticon superior.

"Barricade, this is N—Livewire," I corrected. "Checking in."

"Go ahead, Livewire." Was there a slight amusement in his tone at my slip, or was I imagining it?

Dismissing the thought, "I am settled in the dorm, and have made contact with Samuel Witwicky's roommates. No sign of the boy yet." I paused, really there wasn't anything more to say. "I guess that's it."

"Acknowleged. I expect your next status report at the beginning of the following solar cycle."

"Right. I really don't think anything's gonna change overnight, Barricade. This is college life, not an Autobot outpost."

"You will report at the start of the next solar cycle," came the stern reply.

I checked out the window, noting no sign of the mech in the visible vicinity. Smirking wickedly, I added, "You know, I really want a cheeseburger right about now."

"What?! _Huh_ … Enough Livewire! Clear this channel now," came the irritated reply.

I giggled, allowing my amusement to seep through the comm before terminating the link. I could feel Skyfire's laughter through my spark connection, quickly followed by forced disapproval. _So how about it, Sky? Can I eat human food?_

I felt a shrug in response. _If you try it and cause catastrophic system failures, there's not a lot I can do planet-side._

 _Catastrophic_ …? _Really_? I queried sardonically. _Whatever_.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

It was two more days before Samuel Witwicky arrived. He was accompanied by an Autobot scout that I had never seen before. A yellow Camaro. His mother bought some weed infused brownies and proceeded to race up and down the halls loving on everybody while his father tried in vain to contain and finally to tackle his overly giddy wife. I stood in my doorway trying desperately not to laugh out right, adopting what I hoped was a mildly indifferent smirk. The target was average height, maybe slightly on the short side, with wavy brown hair and blue eyes. Skinny and awkwardly nerdy in appearance, he would be easy prey. I overhead him profess to have a girlfriend, necessary information that Barricade had left out, but not an insurmountable obstacle. Leo Spitz immediately rubbed the boy the wrong way and he chased the dorm monitor begging for a new room. She promptly denied the request, exclaiming that the floor was co-ed and he would be happy here if he gave it a chance. Allowing myself to be seen, I noted that Leo pointed me out to Sam, informing him that I was off limits. Good. Forbidden fruit creates a temptation. Thank you Leo, for doing part of my work for me!

There was a big frat party that night, of course, and through the thin walls, I could hear the roommates making plans to crash it. I dressed myself to the nines, hologram firmly in place, and left just ahead of them so that they would catch sight of me on the way there. At the party, I worked my way over to the target but was taken aback by his strange behavior. I watched wide-eyed and alarmed as he stuttered and drew Cybertronian symbols with the icing of a large cake. Unsure what to make of the display, I set about coming on strong. Slinking up to him, I pressed my body against his just enough to be exciting, not enough to give away the metals underneath my chiffon dress. He was jerked out of his trance by the interaction and began trying to push me away while simultaneously unable to tear himself completely from my attentions.

"I-I have a girlfriend!" he insisted backing up against a wall and then sitting in a large arm chair.

"How about tonight," I crawling into his lap and smiling at his wide-eyed stare, "you pretend _I'm_ your girlfriend, and I pretend _you're_ my boyfriend?" He shook his head no, but his eyes said yes, yes, yes.

Pressing my face as close as I could get without actually kissing him, I stared longingly into his bright blue eyes. "Sam… I want you. Tonight."

"T-t-tonight?" he said jerking backwards, but only a few inches. "I-I-I have to go!" He suddenly shoved me off his legs.

"But you just got here, Sam," I purred, clutching at his arm and leaning over him so that my cleavage was directly in his face.

"I'm late!"

I feigned a pout, "For what?"

"I-I-I chat!" jumping up out of his seat, he began looking for an exit. I was loosing him… "I've gotta go!" But the seeds of seduction were firmly in place.

The piercing sound of a car alarm ripped through the party music and two older boys began searching from room to room aggressively inquiring as to who had parked the errant vehicle on top of a shrub. Just then my threat alert systems tripped indicating a scan of the building and the presence of an Autobot energy signal. Wary, I retreated out the backside of the frat house, before opening a direct com link.

"Barricade! There's an Autobot on campus! What the fuck? You said he would be unprotected!"

"Bumblebee," came the snarling reply, "Maintain your distance and your cover, Livewire. I will _not_ bail you out of this one!"

Although he couldn't see me, I flipped the bird in the general direction of the Decepticon while running back toward the dorm in my escape. Flashing blue lights caught my attention as a police cruiser sped up on my position. As soon as the mech slammed to a halt, I dashed around to the passenger side and quickly slid into the opened door. He took off in the opposite direction of the frat party and the Autobot scout.

"I'm pretty sure the scout didn't notice me, but did he catch wind of you?" I asked.

"No."

I slumped back into the seat. "Well! _That_ was unexpected. What brought him here, do you think? I mean, _you_ said the target would be completely unprotected."

"I do not know, but I will find out."

"Does finding out involve me in some way?"

There was a pause, then, "Maybe."

I frowned, changing the subject, "I think that kid is cracked."

"What do you mean, 'cracked?' I detected no abnormalities in his exoderm—"

My laughter made him stop short. " _Slang_ , Barricade. It means he's lost his mind. Sick in the head." I tapped my temple for emphasis.

"Explain."

"He was drawing things in the icing of this cake at the party. They kinda looked like the written form of your language, but I didn't recognize any of the words. Maybe an obscure dialect?" I shook my head. "Anyway, he was stuttering gibberish and his eyes were rolled to the back of his head. It was really weird!"

"I see."

I stared confusedly at the dashboard for a moment. "That's _not_ normal human behavior under any circumstances."

"It has been noted, Livewire." Impatience was laced into his tone.

"Oh," I shrugged, "I just thought you might know what that was all about."

"Not at present."

"Do you think maybe the Autobots did something to him?" I asked tapping the metal side of my face.

"Not likely."

Rolling my eyes, "Well aren't you just a _fount_ of information tonight."

"Livewire, _you_ are the infiltrator. _You_ gather the information. You do not need to understand it, merely to report it."

I turned to peer out the window at the retreating cityscape as Barricade took us out toward the countryside. "Natty," I said.

"What?"

"If we're going to be working closely together for a while, I'd much rather you just call me Natty."

"Livewire is your given Decepticon name. It is both representative of your capabilities and your personality."

"I hate it."

"You should be _proud_ of your Decepticon name."

"I identify more with Natty."

"I do not understand your stubbornness. Isn't that your previously human moniker? Why would you want to associate with a past life that is far inferior to your current status?"

"Barricade… _Starscream_ gave me that name. Consider it my little rebellion against him."

He did not answer, remaining thoughtfully silent.

After several more miles, I began wondering if we would be going back to the University at all. "Where are we headed, Barricade?"

"I'm following the scout. At a distance, so that he cannot detect my presence. When they reach their destination, you will approach as closely as possible, while remaining hidden, and relay their activities back to me."

"Oh. You want me to spy on them. Gotcha."

" _Yes_ ," His voice carried the impression of a sarcastic smirk. I grinned back at the dashboard for lack of a face to grin at.

Eventually the cruiser pulled into a large park and circled around to the back side. He never said a word to me, opening his door to let me out. I crept quietly up the slope behind which the Decepticon was hiding and flattened myself in the dewy grass when I reached the peak. I could hear voices—two of them—but I could see four large shapes as well as the boy through the early morning mist. They seemed to be arguing. Opening my comm link, I channeled the outside sound through to Barricade.

A very large Autobot was kneeling down close to the ground asking Sam for help in convincing his government of something I didn't quite catch. Sam turned away stating that it was not his fight and he was not who they thought he was. He declared himself average and ordinary as well as unable to make any significant differences like what was being asked of him. I kinda felt bad for the kid. Obviously he had no idea what his value truly was to either side. To Barricade, I quipped, "Pitiful, huh?"

"Truly."

Eventually the boy asked Bumblebee to take him back to the school and I slithered backwards down the slope until I was clear enough from sight to stand up. Brushing the grass and dew from my chiffon dress, I frowned at the stains as I walked back to the waiting mech. An idea came to me suddenly and I dashed back up the slope, crawling to the top. Peering over it I confirmed that the remaining three Autobots were still standing there shrouded in the mists. Activating my cloak, I boldly stood up and approached them. They were speaking in Cybertronian. I began recording the conversation, not daring to transmit lest the carrier waves be detected.

"The boy does not understand his potential, Optimus."

The large bot shook his head, "I agree. Hopefully he will understand his role in what is to come before it is too late."

"You have placed a lot of faith in someone so small and so young," another bot stated.

"There is greatness within him," Optimus said. "They are a surprising species, albeit a very young one. The boy's role in the coming battles has yet to be revealed to me, but I am certain it will be crucial. We must take care that he is protected at all costs. I do not yet know how, but I believe he is the key to something big. Something that is coming soon." As he spoke his last few words, he turned and stared directly at me, his expression changing from curiosity to mild astonishment. He leaned forward, bending at the knees and waist as I slowly, cautiously backed up. My jaw dropped open, there should have been no way for him to detect my presence, but clearly he knew I was there as surely as if I had no concealment at all.

"Optimus," one of the other bots came to his side, squinting from him to the place in the grass where I stood cloaked and holding my breath. "What is it?"

Optimus straightened, turning to his friend, "Nothing, Ratchet. It's nothing. I seem to be seeing ghosts in the mist."

 _The mist_! I glanced around me, _of course_! The swirling mists would leave a slight wake as they pressed around me, lending an impression of my body that an astute observer might notice. I slapped my hand over my own mouth in horror, as the yellow bot pulled a scanner out of subspace and pointed it toward his leader. The device might well pick up some of my Cybertronian functions that normally do not show on detection scans! To my great relief, Optimus snatched it out of his hands, turning it off and handing it back to him. "I'm fine, old friend. All systems functioning normally. Let's roll out. There's nothing here that can hurt us."

I knew without asking that last line was meant for me. But why? As Ratchet transformed into a large yellow ambulance, the Autobot leader glanced over his shoulder at me _and winked_. He then transformed and lead the rest of the mechs out of the park. But I just stood there rooted to the ground and completely dumbstruck.

 _Sky_! I was breathless and panicked. _The Autobot leader, Optimus Prime-he saw me and **he let me go**! Why would he do that?_

Shock washed through the connection. Shock and alarm, followed by severe disapproval, frustration, and anger. _Natty, what are you talking about?_

Taking a slow, deliberately deep breath and pausing to collect my thoughts, I began again, _Barricade sent me in to spy on the Autobots' meeting with the target. After he left, they continued disussing his status. It was important, so I crept closer to record everything, but I was cloaked! I didn't take into account the mist._

 ** _Natty!_**

 _Sky, I didn't even think abut it. Apparently he saw an impression of me in the mist. But, Sky, not only did he **not** alert the others, he even took a scanner away from his medic that would have revealed me! He **protected** me from detection! _

_Natty, are you sure he actually saw you there?_

 _Yes. He made it very clear that he could see me. To me, at least. And then they left. Why would he do that? Whty didn't he try to capture me or destroy me or **something**?_

 _You were cloaked?_

 _Yes._

 _He must have thought you were one of the NEST team humans conducting an experiment. He wasn't protecting you , Natty, he was playing along. That's all. The more serious issue at hand is that you broke cover and risked the security of the mission. You came very close to exposing everything! You **and** Barricade. He never should have sent you in so close to the Autobot leader! _

_Sky, he didn't. I did that on my own. We followed the scout, Bumblebee. Neither of us had any idea Optimus would be here. I took that risk on my own. Don't blame Barricade for this._

 _Very well, then. I will arrange a suitable punishment upon your return. Tell Barricade that you both are to report to me immediately. Better yet,_ the black Seeker's agitation sharpened, **_I'll_** _tell him.._

 _ **Wait,** Sky. We're so close! Don't pull us out of the field yet. They're going to increase security on the target. We have to strike soon! There's no time to get another infiltration team in place. Leave us in play. _

There was a hesitant pause, then, _Alright. For now._

Barricade was much easier to report to. I transferred the recording to him as soon as I slid into the black leather seat. I only gave him part of the file, he didn't need to know about my being discovered, and I didn't need to be punished by both mechs. Skyfire would dole out only extra duties, whereas Barricade would have no compunctions about physically hurting me.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N:** Things will begin to really pick up now, also old characters will show back up after this chapter. I hope you all enjoy. Please Read and Review! It keeps me going and let's me know if I'm doing this right! If you don't talk to me, it's like I'm getting the silent treatment. Creepy. Just saying. ;-D

 **Chapter 3**

Basking in the warm glow of something lost returned to me. I was sitting on a recharge berth on Cybertron playing a game with purple arms reaching around me from behind me. Possessive words kept repeating through my mind like lazy waves lapping on a sun warmed beach, _You are mine, Natty_. I felt whole again, I felt alive again. I could feel his sturdy body pressed tightly behind me, but I had to see him. I needed to see him _one more time_.

As I turned my head, the whole scene seemed to lurch into the cold grey lines of a black and white vision. I was no longer on that distant planet, but here on Earth in an underground bunker facing down the barrel of a shotgun. It blew chunks of my body to pieces time and again, and all the while I could hear him whispering my name. Calling me to him. Telling me I belonged to him. Even as I screamed out for the nightmare to end, he kept calling to me.

I cried out for him to take me with him. Begged for the powers that be to let me follow him, to not wrench him away from me this time. _Let me take his place_ , I plead. Don't leave me here alone. I need him. I can't face another day without him. But the cold reality of his death seeped in and pulled me back into the blackened grip of an infinite emptiness. Shivering against the steely paws of that aching loneliness, I opened my eyes to the ceiling of a college dorm room.

My throat was raw, I must have been screaming out loud. A soft knock at the door was followed by a quietly concerned but rather groggy voice. "Are you okay in there?" asked Leo Spitz.

I sighed, glancing at the door and then tossing my head against the springy mattress in frustration. My mind should have been firmly on the mission at hand, but all I could think about was the way my name rolled out of his vocalizer like honey on silk. And how very much I was missing him right now. The knock came again, jerking me back out of my sad reverie. "There was a spider," I lied. "It crawled across my bed and freaked me out!" Actually I like spiders. At one of the many, many foster homes I was dumped in as a kid, I had kept a black widow by the corner of my bunk. I fed it a steady diet of ants and flies and pretended it was my pet. Eventually it laid eggs and the babies swarmed the house which prompted a visit from the exterminator and the end of my pets. But most girls don't like them, so this was as good an excuse for all my screaming as any.

"Do you want me to get it for you?" came the hopeful reply.

No, not really. I want you to go away and never bother me again, I thought to myself, but I had a mission, and this was as good a time as any. Letting the pain of my loss creep into my voice, I said, "Yes."

"Your door is locked."

 _Oh, yeah._. I'd forgotten about that. Grabbing a satiny robe that came only to the tops of my thighs, I posted my hologram to cover all the gleaming metals of my body and headed for the door. Placing my hand on the knob, I hesitated, echoes of Frenzy's claim to my soul still swirling in the darkened room. I stifled a pained whimper and threw open the door, running past Leo and embracing his dazed roommate, Sam. The former stared at me mouth open and slightly annoyed, the latter grabbed at my arms to loosen my grip, but stopped short of pulling me off.

I buried my face in his neck, under his chin—the way I used to do to Frenzy—and whispered, "I hate spiders." Even as I did so, the chilling tendrils of emptiness coiled inside my chest and shuddered through my body. My grip on the boy tightened reflexively. Taken completely by surprise, I could feel Skyfire reeling from the sudden onslaught of my pain through our spark connection, as he struggled to clamp down on the flow.

"Hey," Sam's voice was soft and consoling, "Hey," he pulled me back enough to gaze into my sorrow filled face. Concern knit his brows together as he asked, "What's wrong? Don't tell me all this is over a spider."

Lost in my grief, I murmured, "I miss him so much…" and closing my eyes I let the tears fall like rain.

"Who?" Sam asked.

A sudden burst of hot anger washed through from Skyfire. _WHAT THE FARK ARE YOU DOING_?

Snapped out of my dark trance, I glanced around, wiping at my eyes and letting go of the teenager. Forcing my gaze to the ground, I feigned bashfulness and stole glances up through my lashes. "My twin brother," I lied.

 _Natty, you are dangerously close to blowing this whole mission!_

 _Shut up, Sky. You're breaking my concentration! I got this! I can fix this!_

From behind me Leo queried, mid-spider hunt, "What does that have to do with spiders?"

"Um," I stalled, "He used to torture me with spiders when we were little. But he was my best friend." I let the ache of losing my lover lend a crack to my voice. "He died last summer. We were supposed to come here together." Hanging my head, I clasped my hands in front of me.

 _Everything that transpires is reported all the way up to Megatron himself, Natty! I'm sending Barricade out to retrieve you._

 _NO! I've got this! Just SHUT UP and let me handle it! **I'm** the human, remember? I **know** what I'm doing! _

Taking a step toward me, Sam pulled me into a consoling hug, "I'm so sorry," he breathed into my hair. I smiled against his chest.

 _Hook, line, and sinker_ , I sneered at the Decepticon Seeker.

 _Report to Barricade immediately._

I cringed at the sound of a police siren blaring directly outside my room. Pushing away from the the boy, I ran past a gaping Leo to my window, throwing it open in haste. "Fuck," I growled.

"What's that all about, I wonder?" Leo stood behind me to peer through the window at the police cruiser in the street.

"That's…" I began uncertain of how to explain all this, "... _a family friend_." My tone dropped into a low and annoyed register. Leaning out the widow I yelled to the mech, "I'm coming! SHUT… UP!" To my surprise, the sirens immediately cut off, although the blue lights still strobed angrily.

I grabbed a pair of shorts and, forgetting that Leo was still in the room with me, pulled them on while dropping my robe. His gasp reminded me of his presence and I shot him an annoyed glare, before yanking a t-shirt over my head.

"You know campus security?" Leo asked, his face bright with mischief.

Shaking my head I said, "No. Yes." I glanced back at the window, "I know that campus security." Raising my voice, I added, "Who is currently being a _complete ass_ right now!"

My comm buzzed on followed by Barricade's sharp voice, "You have five seconds."

"Shit," I whispered, realizing he was about to send his holoform in after me. Returning to the window I yelled again, "I'm coming, you jack ass!" Through the comm I continued, "You're waking up the whole dorm and putting me in jeopardy!"

"Skyfire said _you_ were already doing just that. You have three seconds left."

"Shit, shit, shit," I raced down the hallway and shoved the doors open with a crash. Running full tilt at the cruiser, I halted on the sidewalk beside him and slammed my fist onto his hood. The mech's engine raced in warning. He had pulled up to the curb against the flow of traffic, so that when he opened the passenger door for me, I would need to cross either in front of or behind him.

"Get in," he growled at me.

I pulled an electric charge and let it dance across my fingers like heat lightening in the desert, holding my mechanoid right hand just inches above his hood so that he would not dare hit me. He emitted a low growl and snapped the passenger door closed. "Get rid of that," he said.

Generally I preferred to discharge the electricity since reabsorbing it usually stung. I had pulled enough, this time, to be a serious threat to the large, tough Decepticon, so absorbing it myself would _really_ hurt. I opted to let it continue to arc across my hand instead.

"Lose the charge," he insisted, his voice sharply agitated. "I'm pulling you out."

"No!" I snapped, "I've got this! I practically had him eating out of my hand before you showed up and caused all this racket! If this fails now, it'll be on _your_ head, not mine!"

"Do you have any idea how high up this goes? My reports go all the way to Megatron himself! _Starscream_ is in the area _as we speak_!"

"Ah, shit," I moaned. Forgetting myself, I slapped my right hand to my forehead with an electric _SNAP_! Howling and dancing around, I rubbed at the sore spot, while Barricade erupted in waves of rippling mechanoid laughter. It was a deep, pulsing electronic sound that scarcely resembled human laughter. But it was all too familiar, Frenzy laughed the same way. The thought struck my spark and I kicked at the police cruiser's tire. He quickly lurched forward, dodging out of the way. "Leave me in play, Barricade. I will deliver the target in the next day or two."

"Fine. Fix it if you can," he was still laughing, "If not, I will _personally_ deliver you to Megatron for punishment." With that he spun his tires and raced down the road. I wrapped my arms around my torso, letting out a heavy sigh, as I watched him round the corner at the end of the street engine whining loudly with his speed.

 _You're both assholes_ , I pushed at Skyfire.

 _Watch yourself_ , he warned.

XxXxXxXxXx

I stomped back into my dorm room, sullen and lonely. My gaze was fixed on the floor and when I reached my bed, I yipped in alarm at finding both boys sitting on the edge. Rolling my eyes and blowing my breath out hard, I said, "What are you two doing in here?"

Leo spoke up, "Spider, remember?"

Sam said, "I just wanted to make sure you were okay. You ran off… you—you looked really upset. I thought… maybe you were in trouble or something."

" _Or something_ ," I repeated, injecting sarcasm into my response. "Look, I'm tired, you're tired," both teens shook their heads emphatically, "Classes start in the morning… _Get. Out_. I'm going back to bed." Staring hard at Leo I added, "Alone."

As the two walked to the door, I touched Sam's arm prompting him to turn around and give me a look full of both concern and questions. "Thank you," I cooed. "For your kindness." As a bonus, I leaned up onto my toes and kissed his cheek. He blinked in surprise, his mouth opened to form the words of protest, but they never made it past his lips. Gathering his wits about him, he quickly turned and left the room.

Throwing myself onto the bed, I pulled the blanket around me as I sat up to peer out through the window into the gradually lightening sky. Alone. And without him "alone" felt a thousand times worse than it did before him. What would he think about my attempt at seducing the target, I wondered. As possessive as he was, I was certain, he would not have allowed me to be here. So why was I doing this? Closing my eyes, I leaned back against the wall behind me, letting the tears fall again. To retrieve the rest of his remains. To give his body the rest his spark had undoubtedly already obtained. To finally say goodbye.

XxXxXxXxXxXx

"Barricade, are you getting this?" I sat amongst a pack of wide-eyed students as Sam Witwicky explained theories of space-time so far out of league with what the Astronomy professor was capable of understanding that he was naively scoffing at the boy. Some of the Cybertronian equations he scrawled across the board I recognized from the simulations Skyfire was endlessly running prior to our departure for Earth. Most of it was lost on me.

Barricade was a skilled starship pilot. One of his many talents. The timbre of his reply was grave. "Yeah."

"What is he doing? How—how do you want me to proceed?" This was clearly not coming from the mind of the boy. It was like he was possessed by something… _else_.

Whatever it was, it made Barricade nervous. "Immediate capture." And Barricade doesn't get nervous.

"Ooookaaaay…"

Just as abruptly as the boy had begun his lecture, he was ushered into persecuted anonymity in the crowd of laughing students. But I wasn't laughing. Sam crept out of the back of the hall and raced distractedly back toward his dorm room. I followed, completely unsure of how exactly I was going to "capture" this kid. As I watched him stumble along, he pulled a cell phone from his pocket and began dialing. I leapt forward, isolating the signal and transmitting the conversation back to Barricade.

The boy rambled on something about a shard being kept safe and that the young woman on the other end of the line should not touch it. His frantic tone alarmed her and she promised to arrive immediately.

"Scrap," the police cruiser growled. "Wheelie's been compromised."

"Wheelie?" I paused on the sidewalk trying to make sense of the mech's confession. "Who is Wheelie?"

"Never mind. Focus on your mission." The always cool under fire Decepticon's flustered state was disconcerting. Things were definitely not going to plan, whatever the _overall_ plan was. Looking up, I realized I had lost the target. Sam was no where in sight. _Oh no!_ Panic crawled through my chest, cold and sluggish, scrambling my thoughts. The multitude of warnings that this mission was reported all the way up to Megatron sluiced my frantic mind. I hadn't met the Decepticon Commander in Chief yet, and reporting on the failure of something so crucial to him was not how I wanted to do it. His cruelty was well known and I suspected whatever he did to me would be both permanent and—on account of my suicidal tendencies of late—survivable, but only just.

Spotting a piece of paper fluttering off the sidewalk ahead, I noticed the symbols scratched across it. That wasn't from any human language. Another page breezed off the steps at the foot of the dorms. I wadded up the papers and carried them with me, following the trail down the hallway to the target's room. Standing at the door, I could hear him stuttering out words in rapid succession. It seemed he was trying to talk faster than his mouth was able to operate, the words jumbled over one another and made very little sense at all. The boy's footsteps were all over the room, climbing onto a desk and leaping to a chair. Scrabbling sounds reverberated off all four walls; he must have been writing on everything. _He's completely lost his mind to whatever it is that has possessed him,_ I thought to myself. How on earth was I going to persuade this kid to come with me if he was in such dire need of an exorcism at the moment?

I sighed and paced down the hall a few steps, narrowly avoiding eye contact with Leo as he breezed past me. The new arrival opened his door and almost immediately began yelling. Apparently there was quite a mess awaiting him inside.

"Livewire! Secure the target!" Barricade's demand intruded into my hesitant thoughts via my internal comm.

"Right," I acknowledged. He shouted an angry response that was immediately lost as I hastily cut the communication off. I certainly did not need distractions at the moment. Striding into the room, I grabbed Leo by the shirt collar and thrust him toward the door. He protested asking if he could watch, telling me he'd be quiet, but I shoved him forcefully out and slammed the door in his face.

Turning to a stunned Sam Witwicky, I purred, "Sam, you are amazing." I stepped toward him as he retreated from me stuttering about having a girlfriend, but I ignored this. "Do you know what happens when two amazing people get together?" He backed up to the bed and glanced around for another escape. "They are _amazing_ ," shoving him across the mattress, "in bed!" I climbed over his legs, straddling him and pinning him down before locking him into a full kiss—which he did not entirely resist.

The door burst open, just then, revealing a striking brunette holding a small metal box. Her narrowed gaze seared from me to Sam and her low tone exuded a deadliness worthy of any attacking Decepticon, "Sam—what are you doing?!"

"Who's this?" I asked, trying to maintain a sultry sound.

"M-my girlfriend," he stammered.

"Ex," she confirmed.

 _Great_ , I thought to myself, _M_ _ore complications_. To my relief, she turned on her heels and stormed back down the hallway. This was my opportunity. Wrapping one arm around the boy's neck, I tried to cut off his air just enough to make him pass out, but he was equally determined to keep that airway open. I slammed him against first one wall, then another and he took it in stride, much to my surprise. He was definitely tougher than he looked. Wrestling him back to the bed, I tightened my grip around his neck.

My attention was completely focused on the target, and I never heard the metal box whip through the air, but I sure felt it. It hit the side of my head with such force that my jaw popped completely out of place. Shocked and pained, I inadvertently dropped all cloaking and hologram disguise. Releasing the boy, I grabbed my jaw, shooting a murderous glare at the brunette in the doorway ushering Sam and Leo into the hallway. Popping the metal back into it's socket is at least as painful as having it knocked out in the first place. You better believe I howled with pain and fury.

By the time I reached the hallway, the trio had managed to duck out of the building. Undeterred, I exited the nearest outside door and stormed over to the nearest building, the library. Pulling a small plasma cannon from subspace, I armed it and began letting volleys loose as soon as I entered the building. Students were screaming and flying for safe haven elsewhere, but I was totally focused on the target. And his two accomplices. That blow to the jaw really hurt.

In my rage, I walked down the center aisle tossing chairs and tables aside to demonstrate my anger. Opening the comm link, I called to Barricade, "I'm chasing three humans through the library, 'Cade. Be prepared to collect them!"

"Don't call me that," he spluttered. "Three? There is only one target!" The tone of his admonition made it clear he thought I'd lost all sense.

"One target and two collaterals," I said flatly.

"Now you're talking," I could hear the wicked grin in his voice.

Aiming just above their heads I blew a hole in the wall behind them and then sent volleys right at their heels, pushing them out into the open. Replacing my hologram, I charged through the gaping wall after them. The police cruiser was no where in sight, although I could hear his sirens screaming across the campus. The brunette ran along a string of parked cars, trying every door as she went. I stood at the top of the concrete stairs searching for the black and white mech. What could be taking him so long? As I watched, the trio piled into an unlocked vehicle and hotwired it.

 _Damn_ , I thought to myself. "They're getting away, Barricade!"

"Stop them!" he snarled back.

"Just how exactly—" I began but cut myself off as the kids stolen car lurched out of its parking space. Cursing under my breath, I ran for the car, leaping onto the hood. Drawing my right arm back, I smashed the windshield and began reaching for Sam. The car careened wildly as the boy tried desperately to avoid my grasp.

"Kiss _this_ , bitch!" The brunette yelled at me. When I heard the words, it didn't register as alarming at first. Not until I realized the vehicle was accelerating at full speed in a straight line did it occur to me that I might be in trouble. Twisting around, I saw the light pole a split second before she crushed my legs between car and cement utility base. I screamed. I lost my grip on the hood. She backed the car up and I fell to the asphalt. My internal repair systems began shutting down nonessential processes, rendering me crippled. As I raised my head, I was confronted with the grill of the stolen car. It ran right over my legs and shoulders, the sound of my own metals and bones crunching beneath the vehicle was deafening to my ears, although it probably wasn't very loud in reality. I did not have enough function left to cry out. The blow had completely immobilized me.

At that very moment, I decided I really didn't like that girl.

Several campus police vehicles pulled up within seconds and surrounded the area, cordoning it off and assessing the situation. All my sensors and scanners were offline, but I knew Barricade was there. With so much human activity in the area, he would not reveal himself just to save me. Helpless and completely immobilized, I felt myself lifted onto a gurney by several hands and loaded into the back of an ambulance. I had no doubt I would never see the inside of a hospital. None of my defensive disguises were functioning. My cyborg self was on display for all to see and there was nothing I could do about it.

"Barric-c-cade…" even my comm was beginning to fail. "M—m-mercy-y-y… _shoot me!_ "

"Not yet, Livewire," his tone sounded regretful. "I'll be back for you."

" _Please!_ " I begged. "W-will… disssec-t-t… m-m-me… please…" But he was no longer responding. Through my spark connection with Skyfire, I felt the mechanoid jet reach across and shut down my consciousness. He would not kill me either, but at least I wouldn't feel whatever was in store for me. As darkness closed in, I whispered one more desperate plea back to him, _Please, kill me!_


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N:** Been a while. Not that many folks following this one, so I guess it's not much of a loss. For those awaiting a continuation of "I Stole a Ship" it is in the works. I have had many starts and stops and redos... I'll get there eventually. Even though it's a crack fic, I want to stay somewhat close to cannon. And let's face it, funny is not my forte, so it has been quite the challenge. Anywhoo... I had hoped that Slow Turn would get more attention than it currently is. Not even one review. I'm quite disheartened over that.

* * *

 **Chapter 4**

The university had a large medical college contained within. Research on prosthetics was a particular interest this year. Naturally, this is the department in which I found myself strapped to a hospital table, surrounded by a myriad of monitoring machines and astonished students and their professors.

"It's awake! It's awake!" A young and enthusiastic red headed girl threw her hands up excitedly and dashed from my feet around to my head. I watched her warily, moving only my eyes, as I tried to assess my internal damage.

Repair systems. _Error_.

Diagnostic systems. _Functional_.

Cloaking systems. _Error_.

Hologram. _Error_.

Threat warning systems. _Error_.

Weapons systems. _Functional_.

Targeting systems. _Error_.

Life support systems. _Functional_.

Communication systems. _Error_.

Location systems. _Error_.

Well, three out of ten so far. I could identify the damaged systems, but I couldn't repair them. I could defend myself, but I couldn't aim or determine if I was being targeted back. I also couldn't call for help.

The red head was now leaning over my face. I blinked up at her, waiting to see what would come next. With a careful exaggeration, she greeted me, "Hel-lo."

I stared blankly up at her. This was about to get really stupid, I was certain.

"What is your name?" she went on, speaking in loud, overly emphasized syllables. I huffed, turning my head to look around the room. Giving my arms a slight tug, I quickly realized these folks weren't playing around. The restraints felt heavy and very constricting, running up and down all my appendages. Medical monitors littered the room as far as I could see, and every pair of eyes were currently fixed on me. The red head was still speaking, "We don't want to hurt you, we just want to find out where you came from. So let's start with your name. You do have a name, don't you?"

My gaze flicked back to her brown eyes set wide in a heavily freckled face. I took a deep breath and decided to go with the Decepticon moniker. "Livewire." My voice was dry and hoarse and it had a staticky crackle.

"What?" She shook her head. "What is that? Some sort of code name? What is your _real_ name, Sweetie."

"Livewire." Just like when military service members are captured: name, rank, and service number. That was all they would be getting out of me.

The redhead leaned back onto her heels frowning. "Well. I had hoped you'd be a lot more cooperative than that."

I shot her a defiant grin.

"You started out as human, right? Fully human? Who did this to you?" My grin remained in place, and I made no move to answer. Her frowned deepened. "You know," she motioned for someone off to the other side of me, "You aren't considered human _now._ You are technically a machine. And as such..." she took a pair of what looked like car battery jumper cables from across my torso and pulled back the thin sheet that had been covering my body, "we can do any manner of experiments and disassemblies on you."

My grin immediately dropped into an angry grimace. My nightmares were being realized. My country, my own species, were currently regarding me as a fascinating new experiment to be studied. I began thrashing with all my might at the restraints, but, much to my alarm, they held fast. The redhead was smiling at me now. Realizing I was waisting energy, I ceased my struggles, and settled for glaring at the young woman leaning over me. She clamped one of the cables to my all metal right arm and the other to something below the bed that I could not see.

Nodding to a dark complexioned man near the far wall, she returned her patronizing smile to me. A faint click preceded a jarring bolt of electricity that surged through my circuitry, scrambling their functions relentlessly and pulling a loud reflexive groan from my throat. The redhead waved at her associate and the electric feed suddenly stopped, leaving me gasping in it's wake. My eyes had gone wide with the sudden shock, but they narrowed hatefully now.

Impressive, I thought to myself. But I can do better than that.

The young woman cooed, "Now, let's try this again—with a little more cooperation." As she spoke, I entwined my fingers with the gurney on which I lay. Sending a tentative charge down the heavy metal, I quickly determined that I could successfully redirect the charge they had assaulted me with harmlessly into the floor. Okay, I have a defense, now I need an offense.

I grinned at her, "Livewire. Decepticon. Infiltrator class."

"Hm," she seemed unsure whether to accept that.

"Let me be clear," I went on, while sending a questioning tendril through the wires connecting me to various different machines. One of them had to lead to something I could use. "I work for some pretty big people. I currently hold information that they will want returned to them. Release me now and I will walk away from here, leaving you— _all of you_ —completely intact. Hold me captive and you will draw their ire." Enjoying this entirely too much, I threw a heavy sneer into my tone, "Those that will come seeking me do not show mercy."

She shook her head. "Nobody's coming for you, sweetie. This room is heavily shielded. They won't know where to look."

One of the leads paid out. It was connected to the University's intranet and that was connected to the internet. Bingo. My defiant grin widened as I sent out messages to Barricade and Skyfire. No sooner had I done that, Barricade acknowledged and triangulated my position with a series of pings. "You're wrong," I declared. "They already do."

She nodded to the other technician. Flipping the switch, he sent the heavy current rushing back at me. I feigned electrocution while redirecting the current harmlessly into the floor. When she signaled to turn it off. I relaxed against the bed and issued a warning, "You really should let me go now. Before my commander gets here. He likes to play with his captives before he kills them. It won't be pretty."

"I told you," she insisted, " Nobody knows you're here."

I shrugged. "Suit yourselves."

Glancing at her watch, she said, "Well, we've been here for a while, and it's lunch time. We'll resume this later, okay?"

"You don't want to stick around and meet my boss?" I asked.

Walking toward the door, she answered, "Not today. Maybe some other time, though, huh?" Pausing at the door, she added, "Oh, we have some fun stuff planned for after lunch. We're gonna take you apart and see what makes you tick."

Barricade sent confirmation of his arrival through the internet connection I had made, and I gave him a visual on the line of people exiting the room. _No problem,_ he replied.

As soon as the last tech left and the door was securely locked behind them, I began working at the metal clamps holding me to the table. Alternately heating and rapidly cooling my metal arm, I was finally able to weaken that one side just enough to break free. The rest was simple, I pulled my small plasma gun from subspace and shot the remaining restraints off. Glancing around at the room, I wondered how long I had been kept imprisoned there. Probably not long. Maybe a day, maybe two. No matter, I thought as I leveled every piece of equipment , counter, table, and even the gurney. Fire alarms sprang to life and water sprayed from the ceiling, but I was unfazed by it all. I followed the exit signs to the door. The redhead was cowering behind a wall as blast after blast vaporized human bodies just beyond.

Grabbing her by the arms and thrusting her ahead of me, I insisted, "You really should meet my boss!" She screamed in terror as I shoved her through the outside door. Barricade stood on the broad pebble entrance way, gleefully reaping carnage. "Hey 'Cade!" I shouted up to him. "This one was hiding from you."

He shook his head with a tsk, tsk, wicked red optics zeroing in on the quaking figure I held in front of me. Leaning my head over her shoulder, I said, "This is Mission Commander Barricade. He doesn't like humans. I told you I work for big people, didn't I?" I shoved her to the ground and stepped over her, not even bothering to look back as he leveled a plasma cannon at the screeching, hysterical woman. " _I am not an experiment_ ," I seethed.

When the final scream abruptly cut off, I peered up over my shoulder at the blood splattered black and white mech. "I really didn't expect you to come back."

"Your mission is not finished," he said simply. "I have further use for your particular infiltration skills." His expression changed suddenly from elation at the violence he had unleashed, to a detached concern. Cocking his head to one side curiously, he asked, "How _functional_ are you, Livewire?"

I could already feel my body swaying, and as he voiced his query, the world began to reel around me just before the ground reached up to slap my back. Barricade's frowning face entered my skyward gaze as I replied, " I don't know." He snorted, shaking his head and scooped me up while transforming into his vehicular mode, depositing me into the passenger seat.

* * *

For the second time in as many days, I awoke to somebody yelling, "It's awake!" I stiffened with alarm, momentarily disoriented and believing I might still be strapped to the gurney awaiting dissection. A belt tightened diagonally across my chest and horizontally across my waist, as my surroundings began to come into focus. I was slumped in a black leather seat, cars whipping past the window on my right in a blur. I drew a deep cleansing breath and was immediately reminded of _why_ I had been asleep. Sharp pains ran up and down my back and sides, my one remaining organic lung struggled and spasmed as the mechanical air intake system on the right side of my chest compensated, resulting in a brief flurry of coughing. Hunched forward, I concentrated on calming my body and catching my breath while running diagnostics. All systems where functioning normally or near to, the organics would take a little more time to heal.

Dropping back into the seat, I turned to confront Barricade's holo image in the driver's seat, "Where are we going?" Gasping as the figure turned to me with a wide grin, I felt the door frame dig into my spine when I pressed back and away from the driver instinctively. Brown eyes set wide in a smooth coco face with short buzzed black hair and perfect white teeth. I took it all in, stunned. Movement in the back seat caught my attention. A long, lithe, silvery cross between jaguar and hell hound gazed back at me with his singular optic, jagged metal teeth gleaming ominously.

"Rav!" I exclaimed. "Why do you smell like the ocean?"

"I went for a swim," he replied smoothly. "Megatron is back."

"Was he gone?" Realizing the depths of my disorientation, I turned to the grinning driver. "Who are you? 'Cade when did you start picking up hitchhikers?" The figure laughed and I recognized it immediately. "Rumble," I smiled at the disguised mech. "Flesh? Really?"

"Fooled _you_ , didn't I?" He smirked.

"Till you opened your mouth," I chuckled. "Okay, the gang's all here. So what's the story? What are we up to now?"

"We are following the scout," Barricade answered.

"Should have known," I mumbled.

Ignoring my comment, he went on, "Bumblebee, Mudflap, Skids, and the three fleshbags are tracking down the key to an important device that the Fallen claims will supply us with a bountiful amount of energon. They have the clues, we will follow and take it."

Squinting at the dashboard, I said, "You know, you have this uncanny way of making something sound so simple, but then it turns out its really _not._ "

"Meaning?"

" _Meaning_ , you just named off three Autobots, one of whom is a fair match for _you_ , I might add, and three humans—are those the same ones that Megatron was supposed to meet with? I didn't think he was in the business of letting captives go free," I shook my head trying to collect my foggy thoughts. "There must be more to this 'plan' than follow and take. There better be, anyways!"

Beside me Rumble shook his head no. I stared at him, and then turned back to the dashboard. "Cade?" I pressed. "What more is there that you're not telling me?"

"You, Rumble, and Ravage will follow them in stealth. Your mission is to track down the key and relay the information to me. Megatron is moving the Decepticon army into place near the device on the other side of the planet, so that when the time comes, we will be able to activate it. We will let the scout and his company do the hard work for us. We will not engage until _after_ they have recovered the device."

Nodding my understanding, I turned to look out the window. "Where are we headed now?"

"Where ever the scout takes us."

From the backseat, Ravage piped up, "New York City I believe. In search of a blogger, user name: RoboWarrior."

"RoboWarrior," I repeated. "That kid that roomed with Sam—what was his name," snapping my fingers, " _Leo_ —he kept griping about a RoboWarrior competing with his website. What are they tracking him down for?"

Rumble joined the discussion, "They need to decipher the glyphs that flesh bag's mind is full of. Gonna need to find an ancient Seeker to do it for them. The Fallen told Megatron that the power of the All Spark was transferred to the human's brain somehow. The insect believes he can find a way to use that power to revive Optimus Prime."

"Wait— _what_?" I was really confused now. " _Revive_ Optimus? What happened to _him_?" Images of the tall figure looming over me, winking at me as he turned to leave flittered across my mind. He had seemed such a ferociously capable warrior.

"Optimus Prime _wasted_ his spark in the defense of that fleshbag," Rumble's derision was evident in his tone. "Megatron _ran him through_ , but the Autobots managed to rescue the insect. Now he believes he can bring Optimus back from complete stasis lock. He set out on a quest to find the key, the matrix of leadership."

"Wow," I said. "I slept through all that, huh?"

Barricade remarked, "You were badly damaged."

I nodded, too stunned at all the events I had missed out on to respond verbally.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N:** Double feature. Two chapters in one day! Yippee!

BTW, it has been pointed out-thank you Kaydeeblu-that Ravage is entirely too large to fit in the back seat of a Mustang. So for the sake of my story, I waved a magic wand and Ravage is now the size of a really big great dane that can squeeze into the back seat of a Mustang. Lol.

 **Chapter 5**

When we reached New York City, I have to admit, I felt a simultaneous thrill and regret. I had always wanted to see Times Square at night, but this was no sight-seeing tour. Any wonders we might come across would either be viewed in passing at high speed, or be the subject of collateral damage. The yellow Autobot circled a New York deli and restaurant searching for an inconspicuous place to park with his entourage. Barricade was tracking them at quite a distance, so that we could not even physically see our quarry through all the traffic and throngs of pedestrians. Ravage was becoming more and more cagey in the close quarters of Barricade's interior, and Rumble was chafing at the sight of all those prime targets he could not terrorize at the moment.

Currently, the police cruiser was circling in an ever confusing mess of turns and U-turns to keep an incognito watch on the subject of our surveillance. I was getting tired of it. My butt was numb and my legs were twitching from sitting for so long. The Decepticon Saleen did not make rest stops. Tapping the dashboard, I said, "Cade—"

"Don't call me that," he snapped.

Ignoring his protest, I continued around the interruption, "There's a hotel up ahead. This is the same street the Deli is on. If you pull in here, you can hide in the parking lot while Rumble and I go peek in the windows. Otherwise, we're missing out on who knows what." Glancing over my shoulder at the back seat, I added, "Rav you'll have to stay here." The cat mech hissed dissatisfaction, lowering his head onto his paws.

Barricade turned in to the hotel without another word, accepting my suggestion with his actions instead. Pulling around to the overhang, he gave us instructions to maintain radio silence while so close to the Autobots. Exiting out of the passenger side, I passed the valet, ignoring his questions about parking the car. Barricade could park himself. But as Rumble rounded the front of the police cruiser, he paused listening to the young man in a dress suit. Grinning wickedly he replied, "Knock yourself out, kid," with a grandiose wave of one hand.

"Wait!" I turned yelling at the boy as he walked to the driver's side. "Don't-!" The door snapped open invitingly. Pausing first to regard the unusual automation, the young man then dropped into the driver's seat and the door slammed shut immediately. "Uh!" I rounded on Rumble, "Did you seriously just tell the valet to _park_ _Barricade_?" I demanded.

"Yeah, sure," He shrugged, "Why not?" Giving me a wide grin, he continued, "You only live once, right? Cade'll show him a good time!"

I slapped one hand over my face, "That was fucked up, Rumble. _Really_ it was." Glancing back as the mech pulled away, I caught a flash of silver from the back seat, and chuckled. "Ravage is still in there. He's gonna be pissed."

"Ah, scrap. I forgot about Rav," The disguised tape mumbled. Together we watched the brake lights come on as the Decepticon slammed on his brakes, bright red fluids repeatedly spraying in thick jets across the back window.

"At least he died quickly," I said.

"Would've been more interesting if Cade had got to him," Rumble countered.

Shooting him a sideways glare I snapped, "Rumble, you're an asshole!"

He grinned at me, "Yeah, I get that a lot."

Pausing, I squinted at him, "I'm the _only_ _one_ who says that."

He shrugged, smirking, "You say it a lot."

I giggled, I couldn't help it. He actually is pretty funny. Tapping the small Decepticon's arm, I gestured that he should follow me. We picked our way through the luggage toting tourists gathered at the hotel entrance. Rumble unapologetically kicked over more than a few bags as we passed, much to my annoyance, and I grabbed his wrist to usher him along. We passed on the far side of the street from the parked Autobots, crossing around the corner from them. When we approached the deli, a tall lean man with curly black hair was busy chasing patrons out the door and locking up. We exchanged a glance and crept along peeking in the windows, following them through the building. Rumble's scans revealed that they had entered a large refrigerator, but the massive machine was playing havoc with his sensors and he couldn't keep track of them after that.

The two of us loitered on the lee side of the building, out of site of the three mechs until Rumble's scans picked up movement inside the building again. The lean brunette girl exited the building and retrieved a metal case from the trunk of one of the Autobots. As soon as she walked around the side, we both picked up a Decepticon energy signal coming from the box she was toting. "Wheelie?" I whispered to Rumble. He nodded, tracking the pair until they submerged in the walk-in freezer. "What do you suppose…?" but Rumble held a hand to my mouth, with a quick shake of his head. Better that we not say anything that might be picked up by the audios of our enemies around the corner.

Another half hour later, the three humans, the captive Decepticon, and the curly haired man emerged and rejoined the Autobots who quickly sped off. We watched them leave before sprinting to the doors of the deli. Rumble wrenched the door open, and we scampered inside heading for the meat locker in the back. A quick search revealed a trap door and in moments we found ourselves in a nightmare of paper files stacked in mountainous piles. Framed pictures and a large map cluttered the walls and various Cybertronian artifacts were set on display. We sifted and sorted through various files that had been left on the small table in the center of the room. A set of symbols were scrawled on a few papers and Rumble recognized them immediately as the language of the Primes, but he couldn't decipher them.

We combed over the rest of the room, intrigued by the sheer volume of information on the Cybertronian species. As I tossed files off one shelf, I came across a glass trophy case. A singular blade of sound shredded the air, rending the stealthy quiet we had maintained with my soul piercing pain. A primal emission, an echo of my instantly shattered nerves and my suddenly crippled psyche. The case contained the head of my beloved Frenzy. His optics stared out blankly, devoid of the mischievous light I was so fond of. Rumble approached cautiously as though he feared it may be booby trapped. Resting a hand on the top of the case, his body was gripped by a wrenching shudder before he smashed the case and retrieved the head. He held his brother's remains carefully, watching as I reached a trembling hand out to touch at the lifeless mech's face.

Grabbing my wrist, the living twin, pulled me back up the ladder and out of the Sector Seven treasure trove. Rumble led the way out of the walk-in freezer and then shoved me back inside. "What?" I asked, confused at his quickened reversal.

"Barricade is outside," he whispered.

I grabbed his arm, "He told me that Witwicky boy had Frenzy's remains. That was part of why I was spying on him at the University!"

"I know," he frowned at me.

"That lying sack of—"

"Shh!" Rumble waved at me to keep my voice down.

"Well, what do we do then?"

"I don't know," he shook his head, gazing down into his brother's face.

"If we bring Frenzy with us…" I sighed, tossing my hands out to the sides. "We can't leave him here, though."

"No," he said firmly, "We're _not_ leaving him."

"I'm gonna kill him," I seethed.

"Me first," Rumble glared at me.

I squinted out toward the mech waiting in the street, "Ravage is still out there. He doesn't know yet." I frowned at the disguised Decepticon beside me, "Rumble, what happens if we can't complete this mission?"

"You're kidding, right?" his face screwed into a humorless smirk.

"That bad?" I dropped my gaze to the floor, kicking at imaginary rocks. "Then we need that stupid, lying, asshole. He's our only way around right now, and he's got a bead on the Autobot scout." Raising my gaze to meet his, I let the corners of my mouth pull further down.

He turned away from me cradling his brother possessively with a violent shake of his head.

"Look—it's just until we complete this mission. Then we can kill him. _All of us._ " Placing a hand on his shoulder, I leaned close to him, "You know Rav isn't gonna let either of us do anything if he's not in on it. We'll be more successful if we work together anyway." He twisted away from me, but I continued, " You know what… there's a saying here on Earth: 'Revenge is a dish best served cold.' If we wait, we will have time to plan this out during the current mission."

Rumble stood still, facing away from me for a moment before turning slightly to give me a nod of approval.

"Good," I said. Striding toward the outside door, I continued, "Rav is still out there. We have to get him in here to tell him or he'll rip Barricade apart from the inside out."

Over his shoulder, he snickered darkly, "Is that really such a bad thing?"

I paused, midstride, dropping my head, "It'd _almost_ be worth it."

Upon reaching the waiting Mustang, I rapped lightly on the window. Barricade obliged, cracking it a few inches. "Rav," I tried so hard to keep the tremble from my voice, "Rumble needs you inside." The silver cat raised his blood streaked head from his front paws and tilted it slightly to one side. Without a word, he slipped out of the Saleen and sauntered past me to where his companion tape stood bracing the deli door open. Numbly, I turned back to follow the animal mech, but Barricade's words stopped me.

"Do you think I don't know what you three are up to? You found Frenzy's head and are deliberating on your next course of action."

I rounded on him. "You LIED!" I screamed.

The Decepticon chuckled, "It's what I do."

"You _used_ me! You _used_ _him_ to control me! You _used_ all of us! You didn't have to do it that way, but you did it _anyway_!" His laughter splintered any mental balance I may have possessed at that point. Raising my right hand, clenched into a fist, I pulled the largest charge I could muster, letting it crawl across my entire body as it coalesced toward the fingers of my upraised arm. Barricade quickly reversed, slamming into the parked car behind him, and trapped by the stalled traffic jam beside him. I lurched forward, intent on smashing the police cruiser's hood in conjunction with electrocuting him. Launching my arm in a furious arc, two hands grabbed and yanked it backwards inches from it's destination. So powerful was the force jerking my body around, that, startled and off balanced, I inadvertently released the charge, and Rumble fell prey to my fury. He received the full shock, his disguised form thrown to the ground in convulsing seizures and agonized shrieks, his eyes wide, glassy, and rolling back.

"Rumble!" I cried out, " _NO_!" Ravage paced a tortured circle just inside the deli as he watched his fellow tape writhing under the influence of my accidental attack. Even Barricade was stunned into a cessation of his escape. When the Decepticon's body finally stilled, an acrid perfume of burnt wiring thickened the atmosphere around us. I dropped to my knees beside him, shaking. He was offline, but not terminated. Raising my gaze to the agitated cat-mech, I whimpered a plea, "Ravage! Help him! Rumble, I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!" The mechanoid cat stood still, singular optic staring at the scene before him, tail thrashing.

"If you're finished assaulting your fellow infiltrators, Livewire," Barricade snarled, "Not to mention _your_ _Commanding_ _Officer_ , we have delayed here far too long. Gather Rumble and let's go."

" _You're unbelievable,_ " I breathed. "You want to act like nothing happened? Like we didn't just discover your treachery? Like this can go unanswered for?"

"Now is not the time. We have a mission to complete. That comes first. You three can try your hand at petty revenge plots after we have successfully retrieved the key to the Fallen's device. The Decepticon cause comes first. _Megatron's_ _orders_ come first."

I shook my head, " _Unbelievable_."


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N:** I don't own Transformers, Will Smith, Slim Shady or anything else beyond Natty. I always pictured Rumble as a bit thuggish and very much into rap music. That's just the read I got off his character. Figured if he ever picked a human disguise he would try for a black rapper, just because. I hope I haven't offended anyone, I mean no offense. On another note, I wanted to inject a bit more color into my fic, all the stock characters are white or some shade there of.

Also, I like Blackhawks. I know more about them than Stallions. So I changed Blackout's alt mode. (Insert cheesy grin here)

* * *

Silence stole the oxygen out of Barricade's cab as we trailed the scout once more. This suited the police cruiser just fine, but Ravage and I were chaffing under it's heavy confines. Rumble was still out like a light, recovering from the blow I'd dealt him. I would pay for that dearly when he finally awoke. As the Mustang suddenly veered off the interstate onto a back country highway leading out to the middle of nowhere, I twisted around to give Ravage a questioning look. He raised his head off his paws enough to shake it once and lay back down.

"Alright, Cade—"

"Do NOT call me that."

"What gives," I finished.

"We need to make up some ground. Wheelie can't read the language of the Primes, but he knows where the ancient Decepticon Seekers are hiding. They _can_ read it. The Autobots are headed in the direction of Jetfire. He's never been completely loyal to the Decepticon cause. He'll likely help the fraggers out and translate for them. We must have surveillance in place before they arrive, but thanks to you three getting sidetracked, we are _woefully_ behind them. I've arranged for an airlift."

I hesitated. "Airlift as in…?"

"Blackout."

"Oh, HELL NO!" I yelled. "Fuck that, Barricade! I AM NOT riding with that sadistic, half-brained, rotor-headed, jackass!"

"I did not _ask,_ " his tone a deadly calm. I gave no further argument, trembling in my seat instead, awash with fearful anxiety and memories of a long ago helicopter crash. I could still taste the acrid trails of smoke from Blackout's expended missile as it wafted into my eyes and clogged my throat. The only survivor, I had picked up a Semiautomatic Assault Weapon and a few grenades off my fallen comrades and limp-hopped out to defend the wreckage, sure of my immediate demise, intending to go down with all the fight left in me. And Blackout? _He laughed at me_. He surveyed the carnage he had wrought, observed my approach, crippled and desperately vengeful, even noted with satisfaction the number of casualties and their gruesome, twisted deaths… _**and he laughed.**_ My fists clenched until the joints ached as we headed out to meet the transformed helo in an old rural airport.

Reaching through my bond, I called to Skyfire in desperation. _Sky! I can't ride with Blackout. I can't do it._

His exasperation flooded back to me. _Natty, it's been over three of your "years."_

 _I can't._

 _I'm on the other side of the planet. Unless you feel like flying with Starscream…_

 _No._ I thought for a moment. _Can't I just sit this one out?_

 _Blackout will not harm you._

 _It's not that… I'm not afraid of him, exactly. He killed my friends, just so he could take an earth alt mode._

 _We all destroyed evidence of our assimilations._

 _But_ he _killed my friends! …Captain Tutty was always sneaking into the NCO club with us. Lieutenant Struthers' wife had just had their first baby right before he deployed—_

 _Enough. You will ride with Blackout. You will be fine._

I tilted my head back until it rested against the seat, my eyes closed, my fists still painfully clenched. Resigned to bear this cross, this betrayal of my fallen brethren. Wanting more than ever to die.

* * *

Tree…

...tree…

...house…

...tree…

...fence…

...tree…

Desolate scenery whipped past the window and I sat forlorn, lost in thought. … _Frenzy…_ The way his hungry optics lit up with a sultry smirk when they landed on me. The lopsided quirk of his mischievous grin. His grip, rough, firm, and seeking. Each kiss embedded with the thrilling risk of being bit. Razor edged danger coiled in his taut frame. His last words to me… His promise… _Broken_.

My breath drew in, stuttering and sudden as if I had been holding it for too long. I straightened in my seat and glanced sidelong at Rumble slouched in the driver's seat and deeply ensconced in a repair/recharge cycle. His chin rested on the chest of his alt mode. Handsomely built, I could certainly see why he'd chosen this form. Likely, he had read of the human stereotypes and this guise was selected due to his passion for music. And his thuggish attitude. _Impertinent snipe that he is._ A small smile crossed my lips as I gazed at the sculpted design, deliciously carved muscles, candy smooth chocolate skin, full lips with just a touch of a masculine pout. Every feature proportionate and perfect. Vain little thing he was, but he certainly did a good job at picking this one out. It suited him. He was probably unaware of the wide variety of colors that similarly talented human musicians came in and followed the stereotypes he had undoubtedly found during his research upon arrival. Then again, Slim Shady would have been too skinny to hold his bulky mass. No, this one suited him. His alt mode bore an uncanny resemblance to Will Smith in a movie about a rogue robot. Appropriately ironic.

Reaching out to push his head back against the seat, I wondered if his intake systems were cycling air through his alt form's mouth and nose, or perhaps there was some hidden vents located somewhere on his frame. I let go of his head and it immediately flopped forward onto his chest again. Sighing deeply, I turned back to the window. More trees. Ravage shifted in the backseat, a faint scraping of metal on metal, metal on leather. Barricade's not so subtle wince shuddered through the cab. There must have been claws involved, I grinned at the dashboard and the seat belt tightened around me in warning. "You deserve it," I muttered, low and angry.

Dropping my head back, I barked, "Oh, Holy Mother of Tedium and all things Boring!" Rumble twitched in his recharge, Ravage's head snapped up, singular optic glaring at me. Barricade's annoyance vibrated tangibly inside the cab. "I'm bored," I said much more softly. Ravage snorted and dropped his head onto his paws. I grabbed the small laptop that sat snuggly between the steering column and radio and turned it toward myself. Tapping a few keys, the screen jumped to life and then promptly went dark. "Cade, you're an asshole. I just wanted to play some games. Gods!" shoving the computer back to its place. "Something to relieve the boredom."

"It is not in my existence protocol matrix to ensure your entertainment, Livewire."

Blowing my breath through puffed cheeks, I leaned deeply into the seat and closed my eyes, relegating myself to reminiscing about my sparkmate. Oh, how he had _loved_ to abuse me, and, _glory_ , how I had loved his attentions despite it all. Forcing me to connect with him during Starscream's mission briefing. Rumble's shocked expression at catching us. Soundwave standing wordlessly nearby, visored countenance staring straight ahead, even as he watched. In retrospect it really was pretty funny. He was so _addictive_. He was my drug. The abuses he wreaked on me were tempered by what he did for me. He saw me. He truly saw me. And he accepted what he saw. He even told me once that I was beautiful to him. He loved me. He never said it in so many words, it just wasn't a Decepticon thing to do and he was nothing if not wholly Decepticon. But he did. He let me _feel_ his possessive love when we connected. Wrapped me securely in it while reminding me of his claim on me.

And in his absence, I could feel it still. Ghosting through the emptiness, pulling at the edges of my sanity. That dark pit of depression called to me, begged me to plunge right in. Forget this mission, Barricade, the tapes, the world… forget it all and just surround myself— _wallow_ in it. He wasn't down there, but all the memories of him were. I couldn't be with him directly—maybe I could just _remember…_ It was all I had left.

 _Whoop! Whoop!_

Barricade's siren snapped me back to reality. Morbid curiosity piqued, I slitted my eyes open, absently murmuring, "What are you doing?"

The Police Cruiser did not respond. Sirens whooping intermittently, red and blue lights reflecting off the passing guard rails, he slowed to a near crawl. Picking his way past a massive accident, we observed an overturned, completely smashed vehicle. Black oils pooled underneath and dark crimsons coated the shattered glass sprayed across the asphalt. Stunned survivors huddled together in shock nursing a variety of injuries. They pressed to one side giving him room. The hope in their eyes twisted into confusion as the mech ignored them and continued on. I turned in my seat, my eyes following the deadly scene until I came face to face with Ravage. He was twitching anxiously, and I suddenly realized the carnage outside the windows was exciting him. I stared. And then I flopped back into the seat, smoothing my face into feigned unconcern. Barricade was picking up speed.

* * *

The sudden slow in forward momentum woke me. I hadn't realized I was drifting off—didn't even feel sleepy before. My eyes slitted open lazily as Barricade shifted to the right onto an off ramp. We were in the middle of nowhere, approaching a small county road that didn't even have lines painted on it. A rusted green and white sign flashed past the window and I thought I'd caught the outline of a small airplane on it. _Oh, yeah… the airport_. _**Blackout**_ _. Great._

I glanced over at Rumble. He was still locked in his repair/recharge cycle. I must have fried just about every circuit in that poor mech's body. That jolt was meant for _Barricade_. When the Decepticon tape finally awakened, I knew, he will be highly torqued—probably best that I make an escape beforehand. Squirming in my seat, I pressed my hand to the door handle in anticipation of a quick departure. The police cruiser slowed to a more cautious speed as he rounded a small hangar and pulled onto the smooth concrete of a helo pad. There, his rotors feathered in line with his fuselage, sat Blackout in alt mode. If I'd still had a heart, this is the part where it would clench and hesitate with fear and loathing, as it was, my borrowed spark splinter ached and pulsed instead.

As soon as the door opened, I bolted from the leather seat and raced toward the Decepticon MH-60 Black Hawk. Ravage leapt from the back seat and stood off to one side intent on watching the violence soon to take place. I climbed in one side of the helo, scrambled across, and out the other side, turning around just in time to see Rumble ejected roughly from Barricade's driver seat. It only took a second for him to remember what had happened and turn his fury into a search for me.

Locating my energy signature on the other side of Blackout, Rumble broke into a run, pulling his plasma cannon from subspace and firing it up. " _You!_ " he screamed!

"Wait! Rumble!" I plead. "It was an accident!" I threw up my arms and ducked around the side of the helo.

"YOU **SHOCKED** ME!"

"I didn't mean to! You grabbed me—it was an accident!" I rounded the front of the helo with the angry mech hot on my heels, cannon primed and raised. Blackout let out a low growl as I backed around his other side. "Wait, Rumble. Please, listen—"

"You _electrocuted me!_ "

"Look, I know you're pissed—"

"Oh, you don't know the _half of it!"_ he snarled lunging after me and grabbing air as I ducked away, stumbling to one side. Once again I dashed through Blackout's open doors, leaping out the other side as the annoyed MH-60 began his transformation sequence. Rumble dodged moving parts, his cannon knocked from his hand, to circle around under the enormous Decepticon while I dipped and sidestepped avoiding the rotors shuffling onto the helo's back. It was just enough distraction that I didn't see the metal fist until it was too late. My newly healed nose broke and my mouth filled with blood as my head snapped to the rear. Losing my footing, I flailed until the hard concrete slammed into my back. The tape wasted no time pouncing on my torso and pinning my arms down next to my head.

"It was an accident, Rumble! You grabbed my arm! What did you _think_ would happen?" I yelled, spitting crimson at him.

"I _thought_ I was stopping you!" he snarled back. Leaning close to my face, he hissed, " _You_ were the one that said we should wait. And _you_ attacked him… _alone_."

"That—but—it was what he said that set me off. I wasn't trying to get him without you, he just—I lost my temper…"

Rumble shook his head and inched closer. I'd never seen him look so demonic as he did in that moment, his eyes narrowed, brows drawn down, head tilted toward his chest—he truly frightened me. "This is _all your fault,"_ he seethed. My eyes went wide as I shook my head emphatically. "He _never_ would have lied to us if it weren't for you."

"You _can't_ believe that!" I cried.

"The _only_ reason he lied about Frenzy was to _motivate you._ He never would have lied to Ravage and me if it weren't to keep you from finding out the truth. It's all about _you_ , Natty. _It always was_."

"No!" I began struggling against him, desparately trying to buck him off. This was just too much, it wasn't true—it couldn't be true. "You can't hold me responsible for that sadistic, compulsive liar's lies! _It's not my fault!"_ Rumble's right arm drew back over his left shoulder, palm facing up.

He **slapped** me.

Grabbing my cracked jaw to hold my head to the side, his mouth only an inch from my ear, he whispered, " _All. Your. Fault._ " The fight fell out of me. He stood, stepping over my still body, and walked toward the two taller mechs watching the scuffle. "Commander Blackout," the Decepticon tape said as he picked up his discarded weapon, "We're ready when you are."

I rolled up onto one elbow, watching him walk away. "Rumble… I…" He turned just enough to give me a quick, scathing glare that silenced anything more I could have said. This was far from over. I dropped my gaze to the ground and slowly picked myself up from the concrete.

Blackout looked over his shoulder at Barricade, who had transformed to watch the show. "This is _your_ doing?" He asked.

The black and white Con's optics flicked up to Blackout, back to us, and up to Blackout again with a self satisfied smirk and a smug little shrug. The helo huffed in response, stepped forward, and transformed into his alt mode once more. "There will be _no_ fighting during the flight. Understood?" his voice stern and commanding.

"Understood," Rumble replied. I nodded acquiescence, still keeping my gaze low. Ravage made no answer, springing into the MH-60 and finding a comfortable corner to curl up in. The police cruiser transformed and headed out to the highway as we lifted off the ground.

Rumble sat across from me, leaning back against the bulkhead that separated the crew compartment from the fuel tanks in the aft. The narrowed eyes of his human form attempted to burn holes in my face as he mentally reviewed various means of brutally dismantling my flesh and metal. I watched him from my perch in a web seat along the forward divider, separating crew compartment and cockpit. His anger twisted his handsome features into something villainous. Releasing a small sigh, I turned my attention to Ravage. His singular optic was offline and shuttered at the moment.

Opening a private comm channel to the cat mech and hoping Blackout wasn't listening in, I asked, "Ravage… You don't buy into all that crap about Barricade's lies being my fault, do you?"

Without moving, the silvery beast replied, "Are you asking if I believe that Barricade lied to motivate you, or if I believed Barricade's lies in the first place?"

"Oh," I nodded, Ravage's point being made. He had not been deceived by Barricade. Which begged the question, had Rumble really been fooled? I opened a similar channel to the mech disguised as a human, "Truce, Rumble? At least… for now?" No response. "We've gotta do this surveillance for God knows how long… it'll make it easier on _all_ of us if you and I aren't fighting in the middle of it."

He shifted, bringing his head up to gaze at me on level. "Sure, Natty," the tone he used was entirely too sweet and forgiving. It set my nerves and circuits on edge. "No problem. Truce." That was even more alarming than the evil eye he'd been giving me. Rumble doesn't forgive and forget. _Ever_.

At some point in the near future, I was sure to encounter the ass beating of a lifetime. For the moment, however, I was safe. I turned my thoughts to the museum we were about to infiltrate. One more landmark I had always wanted to see, and now regretted having to visit as part of a Decepticon entourage. Barricade was on his way, but likely would not arrive until long after the Autobot scout and company had found what they were looking for and moved on. We would be reporting in to keep the police cruiser up to date.


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N:** This chapter was a ton of fun to write. I had to use multiple sources to get the dialog and feel down. Having been military and currently holding a job in which we frequently use radios during all eight hours of the shift, I wanted to interject the unique mood that radio communication imparts. This method of writing the dialog only makes it more evident the many ways that discipline over a network can breakdown.

We have all seen the RoTF, I'm trying not to rewrite what everyone has already watched while simultaneously running my story line parallel to the movies. I am having fun, however, throwing my OC in as ways of explaining some of the behind the scenes stuff from the movie.

It's a short chapter because it is almost entirely dialog.

* * *

 **Chapter 7**

Barricade: "All stations report."

Ravage: "No sign."

Me: "Nada."

Rumble: "Same."

Me: "Wait, I think I see… nah, just a mouse. Any interest in that Rav?"

Ravage: " _Amusing._ "

Rumble: "A- _mouse-_ ing."

Me: (Giggles.)

Barricade: "Enough."

…

… errr…

…

Me: "Are you mocking Rav?"

Rumble: "Nah. Just trying to stay online." …(sigh)… "I'm getting a pain in my neck, is that a common _human_ thing?"

Me: "Only if you sit on your ass for too long."

Rumble: "You mean like when you're stuck on surveillance for over half a solar cycle _with_ _no activity_?"

Me: "Yup."

Ravage: "Perhaps you should have picked a more suitable form."

Rumble: "Nyah, nyah, nyah _suitable form._ "

…

Me: "Should have said, 'Meow, meow, meow _suitable form._ "

Ravage: "Hilarious."

…

Rumble: "Reow, reow, reow _suitable form_?"

Ravage: …( _sigh)…_

Me: "He kinda reminds me of a hell hound. Just a little bit."

Rumble: "Bow, wow, wow _suitable form._ "

…

Me: "Too bad Laserbeak's not here."

Ravage: "Caw, caw, caw _suitable form._ "

Barricade: " _Radio Silence_!"

…

…

Rumble: "Whoop, whoop, whoop _suitable form_!"

Barricade: " _I will disable your processor_ _**through your aft**_!"

…

…

Me: "I'd like to see that."

Rumble: "When you're finished can you show me how that's done?"

Ravage: "I didn't think humans had any direct connections between their afts and their processors."

Me: "Oh, some of them do!"

Ravage: "I do not understand how that is possible."

Me: "Well, what happens is… Rumble taunts the Mission Commander, who stomps him flat. And there you go! His ' _aft_ ' is now directly connected to his processors. And everything else."

Ravage: "Heh, heh."

Rumble: "So how does a _human_ get their head _up their aft_?"

Me: "Usually happens to the ones in charge."

Rumble: "Care to demonstrate?"

Me: "I'm not in charge, here. That's all _you_ 'Cade."

Barricade: "Continue with this discussion and I will reassemble Rumble's processors _inside_ Livewire's aft."

Me: "That sounds painful."

Rumble: "That sounds difficult."

…

Me: "You _do_ know that's just a figure of speech, right?"

Rumble: "It was in a movie."

Me: "Oh, well... if it was in a _movie_ , then…"

Rumble: "I'm gonna go try it. There's a couple of Security Guards in my grid. They look kinda bored."

Me: "Bloody hell."

Barricade: " _Hold your positions_."

…

Me: "Alrighty, Lieutenant Dangle."

Rumble: "Lieutenant Dangle?"

Me: "Character in a TV show. Reno 911. Bunch of airhead cops. Funny show, though. Lt. Dangle looked like a pedophile. He wore shorty shorts and rode a bicycle."

Rumble: (Peals of howling laughter)

Ravage: (Snickers)

Barricade: (Growls loudly)

Me: "That one's gonna stick."

…

Rumble: "I have contact."

Barricade: "Report."

Rumble: "All four fleshies. No sign of Wheelie."

Me: "Where are they going?"

Rumble: "Wouldn't _you_ like to know?"

Me: "Where'd _that_ come from? Is the truce over all the sudden?"

Barricade: "SILENCE."

…

Barricade: "Where are they headed?"

Rumble: "They split up. Looks like they're reconn-ing the place—"

Me: "What the fu-"

Rumble: "—One's heading outside toward you, Rav—"

Me: "—ck crawled up your ass-!"

Barricade: " _Silence, Livewire_!"

Rumble: "—Two of the younglings are vectoring to Natty. And the last youngling… went into a side door at the front—I don't know why."

Me: "Ya know what-Fuck you, _and_ the road you rolled in on. _Both of you._ "

Barricade: " _ **ENOUGH**_! Rumble, keep watch on the target at the building's entrance. Ravage, report when you have optics on the target headed to you. Livewire, _focus_ _on your position_. Report in when you have visuals."

Ravage: "I have a visual. Target is blending in with the crowds, keeping cover with a large group of humans."

Me: "I got the two teens. They're walking around— _being teens_ in a museum."

Rumble: "What's that supposed to mean?"

Me: "They're touching _everything_ and irritating the guards."

Rumble: "Oh."

Ravage: "Target is heading back inside."

…

Me: "I see him. Looks like that Former Agent guy. The one that… The guy that owns the deli. He's meeting up with the two kids. Rumble where's the other teen?"

Rumble: "Hasn't come out of that door yet."

Me: "You mean the bathroom? What in the world is he doing in there? Is there a line or something?"

Rumble: "How in the Pit would _I_ know what squishies do in there?"

Me: "The kids just crawled into the intakes of some old fighter jet. Agent Deli Guy is walking around aimlessly. I think he's meandering back to you Rum."

Rumble: " _Rum_?"

Me: "It's a potent alcohol. Like a really good High Grade. It's fitting."

Rumble: "Hmm."

Ravage: "Perhaps more of an unrefined mid-grade…"

Me: "Damn. Hold grudges much?"

Ravage: "Implicitly."

Me: " _Ookaay_. So. The teens are still in the closet. And Agent Deli Guy is out of sight."

Rumble: "I got Deli Guy. He's heading for the front door. He's leaving."

Me: "That was over quick."

Barricade: "It was recon, Livewire. Not that you would know what that looks like."

Me: "Ass."

Barricade: "What was that?!"

Me: " _Ass_. If you like, Rumble can translate it into Cybertronian for you."

Rumble: "Ass. Squishy for aft. As in you are one."

Barricade: "You are trying my very limited patience."

Me: "Huh. Barricade has patience. Who knew?"

Rumble: "Yes but it's limited. He said so himself."

Me: "Well, far be it from me to abstain from pushing limits!"

Ravage: "Naturally."

Barricade: " _Radio silence_. I will deal with you three when I arrive."

Me: "Oooh! Ravage is in trouble!"

Ravage: "I fail to see your logic."

Rumble: "Hey, what did _I_ do?"

Me: "Rumble, your very existence is trouble."

Rumble: "Flattery won't get you anywhere. Your aft is still scrap, Natty."

Me: "(sulkily) Hmph."

Ravage: "There seems to be a mass exodus in effect."

Rumble: "Yep. Quittin' time!"

Me: "It was an accident."

Rumble: " **YOU FRAGGIN' ELECTROCUETED ME!** "

Me: "You grabbed my arm."

Barricade: "Livewire. Status of your quarry."

Me: "Still in the intakes."

Rumble: "YOU FRIED NEARLY ALL OF MY CIRCUITRY!"

Me: "I was carrying a charge."

Barricade: "Rumble. Status of your quarry."

Rumble: "Still hiding. You are _absolutely scrapped_ , Natty."

Ravage: "Permission to relocate. There is nothing further to report from my current position."

Barricade: "Granted."

Me: "…was an accident. Shouldnta grabbed me."

Rumble: "(mocking)… _was an accident…_ How's about I _accidentally_ rip your spinal column out through your optics! How's _that_ for an accident?!"

Ravage: "I have relocated to an open hangar adjacent to Livewire's current location. There are many aerial relics located within. There is also a deactivated Decepticon signal. It is very faint; I cannot decipher the exact designation."

Me: "Do your worst, Rum. If it makes you feel better."

Barricade: "I'm not concerned with deactivated relics, Ravage. Maintain your position and report on any changes."

Rumble: "(muttered) You haven't seen my worst, _but you will._ "

…

…

* * *

Small and rectangular. The piece of human technology in my hand felt oddly light and innocuous, but largely comforting at the same time. A thin layer of pressure treated glass covered the dormant touch screen. I stretched out a finger to tap at it, but nothing happened. Mentally slapping myself, I realized that my metal digits would not engage the sensors on the simplistic device. Switching hands, I sent a small current through the I-phone, accessing it with a seamless meld instead. It felt sluggish in it's responses and I sifted through all the data contained within in a matter of seconds. Frowning, I dropped it back to the floor in front of me. The screen shattered. Useless. I had hoped to find something interesting on it—some connection to my fading humanity—but nothing appealed to me.

My mind wandered back to the problem at hand. Rumble was pissed. More than his wrath, I found myself dreading the loss of his companionship. Ravage was amiable, but only if the interaction suited his current agenda. Rumble was the closest thing I had to a friend since Frenzy… I shuddered. No sense in going down that road right now. The thing was, something about Rumble drew me to him. Probably had to do with being spark twins and my bond with Frenzy—I didn't really understand it all, I just felt the pull. There was an inexplicable, and ever increasing, _need_ to be around Rumble. When I bonded to Frenzy, I may have inadvertently bonded to his brother as well. The living twin was so different from my lover, but my soul was drawn to him anyway. Somehow, I would have to find a way to appease his temper. That would not be easy, since he was out for blood—namely, _mine_.

Kicking at the cracked phone on the floor, I let a resigned sigh escape my chest.

As soon as the museum's doors closed for the day, our targets emerged from hiding and followed the captured and now obliging Wheelie. Rumble uttered long strings of curses upon the 'Con's creation, activation, designation and any number of associations. Basically, he was deemed a traitor at this point. But that was nothing compared to the shock we all received at the activation of the ancient Seeker, Jetfire. The Allspark shard, carried by the teens, went undetected—something Barricade was quite furious over—until it was brought out. The general consensus initially was that the enormous mech would pass the translations on to our small unit of spies lying in wait. This was not to be. Instead, he defected. Just like that. Said it was an "intensely personal choice." And then Wheelie followed suit while humping the teen girl's leg. It was like a parody of real life! As a last big surprise, the massive jet opened a portal and warped himself, the three Autobots, Wheelie, and all four humans to places unknown.

Clever Ravage managed to jump into the portal right behind them, undetected. Fifteen minutes later he was reporting from some desert on the other side of the world. Rumble and I scampered out to the parking lot. Barricade was already waiting for us, which, thankfully, postponed my upcoming beat down.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N:** Been working on several projects all at once. Currently, the biggest projects are a joint venture involving Trailbreaker and an OC set in movieverse, this story, another "Natty story" with a tumultous Jazz-centric romance and a mystery to solve, and an Predator comedy. I'm a busy girl. Lol. This fic will be wrapping up in the next few chapters or so. Not that anyone cares... this particular fic hasn't seen much traffic. Lesson learned, I guess.

 **Chapter 8**

"You know, I think I would rather be traveling with Barricade right now. No offense, Sky, but I'm just not thrilled about where you're taking me." I squirmed in the pilot seat of the black jet, not daring to look out the canopy at the fluffy clouds he cut neat holes into.

He sighed. "I do not blame you, little one."

"Whatever happened to defecting? Is that still an option—'cause I'm thinking that would be a _great idea_ right now!"

"You know as well as I, that now is not the time for such a strategy. Perhaps later."

"Later like… _when_? Later like when the Earth is obliterated? Later like when my entire species is gone or enslaved? Or how about later like when this multi-millennium war finally comes to an end? Of course, there wouldn't be much point _then._ "

"Natty. Focus on the task ahead. You know without being told why you have been summoned."

"Yeah. Ol' Megs wants to flush out the boy and he wants a human perspective on how to do that." I shivered, dread crawling up my spine like chilly little ticks looking for a vein to suck the life out of me.

Skyfire banked, slowing his speed and dropping altitude. "Think of what you can speak to that will cause the least harm but sound the most convincing." It occurred to me that my sort of big brother may well be the best ally humanity ever had.

I scrubbed one hand over my face, squeezing my eyes closed. "I don't wanna do this, Sky," I whined again. He bounced on turbulence, jostling me in the seat, in an attempt to pull me from my ever darkening thoughts. "Ass," I whispered, giving the console a light slap. In return, he wagged his wings, one rising as the other fell and then tossing himself the other way. His efforts pulled a reluctant smile from me.

When we landed, I gratefully took a place on the large jet's shoulder, clinging to his armor as he walked. We met our leaders on an outcropping amongst the mountains in a remote area of Egypt. The Fallen's great machine was buried somewhere nearby and most of the Decepticon army was awaiting delivery of the key Sam Witwicky was searching for. The boy hoped to revive Optimus Prime, The Fallen intended to harvest Earth's sun. Obviously, I would never say as much, but I was rooting for the boy.

Megatron stood optic to optic with Skyfire, Starscream trying to appear formidable on his right and The Fallen feigning disinterest behind both of them. My oversized brother bowed his head in respect to his superiors and greeted them formally. Megatron replied, "Skyfire. I see that you and your _experiment_ are well." I cringed at the dark implications in that statement. "We have asked you here to gain insight into the strategy the humans are taking to hide the boy. We have plans in place to flush him out, but perhaps there is more we could be doing." Here he shot a nasty side glance at Starscream, holding it until the other ducked his head submissively. For a brief moment, I felt a faint flicker of pity for the other flyer, but like a dizzy spell, I recovered quickly and moved on. Sky, however, felt much more for his lover that he would not allow expression through anything but our connection. My gaze twitched to the side of his face before returning to Megatron.

"Livewire would be the expert in this area," the jet calmly threw me to the wolves.

I failed to keep the alarm from my face, twisting toward him with my jaw agape. All three sets of optics settling on me, filled the air between with crackling expectation and jerked me back to the present dilemma. What could I tell them that would be helpful to the Decepticon cause without unnecessarily killing any of my species? _Was_ there such a thing? I swallowed thickly, trying to stall for time. Then an idea struck.

"Humans are very attached to their parents," I glanced at each Decepticon and then explained, "Their creators. It's a very close bond. A human would do _anything_ for their parents. We could use the boy's as leverage."

Starscream silently scoffed and The Fallen's malicious glare hardened that much more, but Megatron was actually considering it. "How strong is this bond?"

"Very," I leaned forward with enthusiasm, slipping a few inches on Skyfire's armor and catching myself with a grimace before resettling and continuing on. "Guaranteed he would trade the his own life for theirs. Even the life of one of the Autobots. Even Optimus Prime." A bit quieter, I added, "Even the key."

That last caught everyone's attention and cinched the deal. By now the boy must know what it was that he hunted for. The key held the fate of our entire species, the planet, and the solar system itself. The Autobots were ill equipped to escape that kind of mass destruction themselves, less so to help the doomed humans. Megatron's optics glimmered gleefully at the suggestion Sam Witwicky would trade it all for his parents' momentary safety.

The massive silver mech opened a comm channel, "Soundwave, identify the… _parents_ … of Samuel Witwicky."

There was a pause before the Intelligence officer responded, "Identified. Ronald J. Witwicky, Judy M. Witwicky. Phone number 501-456-9834, 501-456-9835. Currently aboard Southwest Boeing 777, international flight number 1243, bound for Charles de Gualle Airport, Paris, France."

Megatron's optics narrowed with delight, the outer corners hitched up and adding to his wicked, jagged tooth grin. Instinct drove me to lean back against Skyfire's shoulder protrusions. "Livewire," he purred with malice, "meet with Decepticon forces in France to assist in the capture of the boy's… _parents._ "

Numbly, I nodded, then caught myself and corrected, "Yes, Lord Megatron. I live to serve you." Skyfire bowed his acquiescence, backed away respectfully, and leapt into the air, tossing my squealing body into his cockpit as he transformed.

"MOTHER OF _GAWD_ , SKY!" my voice was shredded with fear. "What the _fuck_?!" He did not answer, merely sent me a jumble of growing alarm and unease from observing The Fallen. _What is it about him?_ I asked.

 _I do not know, but my instinct is to not trust him. I feel he has led Megatron astray from the Decepticon cause. I fear we will fail and The Fallen will be the cause of it. There is something very much not right about The Fallen._

I smirked, _Oh, you think? Because being pure evil incarnate wasn't enough of a clue?_ The jet turned curious at my remark. _Decepticons are brutal and cruel as a rule, I get that, but we are fighting for a reason. The Fallen… if he was a Prime like everyone says he was, then what made him turn? Why does he fight? Seems to me he doesn't_ have _a reason. He's just playing with his toy soldiers, blowing them up in the backyard for the fun of it._ The mech's curious feel twisted into complete bewilderment at my last statement. _"Toy Story." It's a movie. Look it up._

After nearly half an hour of silence, Skyfire answered aloud, "I get it."

* * *

Rampage is a mind with two bodies. One large red bulldozer forms the left leg of Devastator, the other red bulldozer bounces around on a springy jackhammer. Both are armed with long whip like appendages that attach near their wrists. Both are completely mad. At least that was my impression of him—them—whatever. The dual bodied mech was already in place when we reached Paris. From the coast, Sky flew in low, under the radar, jamming all other detection devices along the way. Soundwave coordinated our meeting, and I soon found myself crouched in an alley off a highly pedestrian trafficked cobble street, peering around the corner and constantly pushing the spring loaded mech's face back, lest he give us away. Stealth was never programmed into any of the Constructicons and it definitely showed with Rampage.

"Will you _stop?!_ " I snapped for the hundredth time. The red bulldozer fidgeted, growling in a very low register. "You're like a two year old, _I swear_." Turning to peek out at the cafes lining the street, I almost missed the slow motion crush of his large hands together with a quick twist when the palms met.

"Squishies go squish," he chuckled with a dark tone.

I frowned at him over my shoulder. " _This one_ doesn't. You so much as get within arm's length of me and I will _end_ you. **Promise** ," my voice hissed, full of warning. "And Skyfire will finish whatever's left of ya." He grunted at me and then gazed out at the sea of unsuspecting humans wandering past our vantage point. Malicious hunger lit his crimson optics and a ponderous grin crept across his face plates. Unease grew in me, this mech was a bomb waiting for a trigger. "You're creepy," I muttered turning my gaze back to the cafes again. "Stay focused."

Never thought I'd long for Barricade's methodical coldness and flash fire temper. At least he was predictable. The only thing I could predict about this crazy perched behind me was that he would snap soon. And it would be ugly. My eyes scanned the crowd. All those people…

"Decepticons inbound." Soundwave decided to enlighten those of us on the ground. "ETA one breem." Damn him, I could never get the hang of their measurements of time. Or anything else, for that matter. _Eight minutes,_ Skyfire supplied helpfully. I breathed a silent thanks back to him. Things were about to light up. My body tensed, muscles drawing taut and gears and hydraulics winding up. I engaged stealth dampeners to quiet my mechanical half's whirring sounds and activated my cloak, startling the demon behind me.

"Where did squishy go?" he rumbled softly.

"I'm still here, retard," I snarled. I had no patience left for him. If he didn't get me killed on this mission—or kill me himself—it would be an outright miracle. Briefly, I wondered how Rumble and Barricade were fairing in Jordan and Egypt herding the boy and company across the deserts to the machine. Soundwave brought me back to the present when he opened a comm and let us all listen in.

The sound of a phone number being dialed seemed so archaic and out of place on a Decepticon communication network. My lips tugged into an ironic little smile accompanied by a snigger. A woman's southwestern twang answered, "Hello? I mean—Bonsoir?" she sing-songed the last word.

I glanced at the antsy red mech and then to the cafes. "Commander Soundwave, I can't tell where they are exactly. I'm going in."

Soundwave pinged an approval to me while drawing out the conversation, such as it was. "Where is the boy?" I dropped my cloak and replaced it with a hologram imitating a mime I'd seen working the cafes across from us.

As I bounced through the throngs of seated, mid-day diners, the woman responded, "Who? What?"

Soundwave immediately began downloading the contents of her phone, turning on her GPS and sending the signal to all Decepticons in the local area. I found the redheaded woman on her cell phone looking quite flustered and leaned across the table with a wide grin, knowing Soundwave's actions translated into something audible and strange over the phone line. The woman shouted, "I'm not impressed by your perverted mouth breathing!" And slapped the phone shut. I jumped at the action, she jumped at my close proximity, and the man across from her began swearing at me.

"Found them!" I chirped, dropping my hologram for a cloak.

"Follow them," Soundwave ordered. Immediately I sent my exact location to both Rampage bodies. Just at that moment, the incoming Decepticon protoforms crashed into the city sending people flying from their seats and searching for cover. Following the Witwickys was not so difficult. I had to hand it to Mr. Witwicky, though, he had a very good sense of where to hide. He ducked into an alley between sturdy buildings and dragged his wife to a spot between a pair of dumpsters only to find himself facing the bipedal Rampage. Circling around them, with my back to the first red body on the scene, I watched the spring loaded version jump into the other end of the alley way. Mr. Witwicky shoved his wife behind him and backed her up against a brick wall, arms spread wide like he was stuck somewhere between defending her and attacking us.

"Wha—What do you want with us?" he stuttered.

Dropping my cloak, I noted with satisfaction, his heart rate increased even more at my appearance. I didn't bother with a disguise, the alley was dark and their fear would work in our favor. "Nothing," I grinned. "We don't actually want you at all. We want Sam."

"I don't know where he is. I wouldn't tell you if I did."

Nodding, "I don't doubt that." Rampage bounced closer. I held up a hand to stop his approach. Mr. Witwicky's focus whipped to the red mech and then he eyed me warily, probably wondering how I was controlling such a large mech. "We _know_ where he is. But we may need a bargaining chip when we get to him. He has something we need."

"I'm not helping you," he declared.

The springy Rampage growled, "Squishies go squish."

"Not today, Rampage," I sighed. "He won't hurt you. He's just… over enthusiastic."

Mrs. Witwicky leaned over her husband's shoulder. "You… you're human."

"Not anymore," my voice took a stern edge. This was dangerous territory and Rampage was listening.

"How could you turn against your own species?" she argued.

I crossed my arms over my chest, frowning angrily at the woman, "Humans want to experiment on me, Autobots want to kill me, the Decepticons at least _tolerate_ me. It's all I've got."

"That's not true—"

"It's true enough!" I yelled, cutting her off. She would get us both killed if she continued. Behind me the bipedal Rampage was edging closer and I didn't trust his intentions. "We're going to take you for a little ride. Rampage won't hurt you. He values his life more than his fun." I twisted around to smirk at the red bulldozer creeping up noisily behind me. Pulling a mild charge, I let it crackle along my frame and work it's way up to my hand. The mech took a small step back at the obvious warning. " _I will end you_ ," I hissed, listening to the humans gasp. Rampage growled in two bodies. Reaching past man and wife, I discharged the electricity into the dumpster next to them. It thunder-clapped against the metal with a thin bright streak of light. Turning to the spring bottomed mech, I gave a casual shrug and pulled my EMP cannon from subspace, "Load them up."

Mr. Witwicky's eyes glued themselves to my gun slung against the front of my shoulder and Mrs. Witwicky breathed a quiet, "What happened to you that made you so bitter." I froze. She was determined to kill all three of us. "You poor deluded dear."

My breath blew out in exasperation. Hoisting my cannon, I motioned with it for Rampage to hurry it along. He balanced well on his spring as he leaned forward and scooped them up one in each hand. I turned my back to them and strolled toward the other end of the alley and opened a comm. Speaking out loud so the captive humans could hear me, "Commander Soundwave, we have achieved our objective. Rampage has possession of the Witwickys." The red mech in front of me stepped aside, but his attention was riveted to his other body. Following his gaze, I found the opposite Rampage wearing a maniacal grin while holding the two humans just out of reach of each other. They were stretching themselves to their limits, wriggling and squirming in their attempts to span those last few inches. It was a horrific display of cruelty.

I leveled my cannon at him, "Rampage! Knock it off, you fucktard! Quit playing around and put them in storage. _Together._ If they don't survive the trip because you were fucking with them Megatron will be the _least_ of your worries." He got the implication right away and the two humans disappeared into a cavity in his chest. "Oh, and remember to keep the ambient temperature at 22… no, they'll be in shock. Make it 25 degrees centigrade. Got it?"

He grunted back at me, "Don't kill squishies. Got it." And with that he bounced off.

Watching him go, I wondered at the wisdom in handing two humans over to a mech that bounced as a means of travel. Too late now. The whine of jet engines and a resounding _thwump_ in the street alerted me to Skyfire's arrival. The remaining Rampage transformed and sped off after his other half, and I darted around him to get to my towering, black ride.


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N:** I have been struggling to keep Rumble in character, pissed off, mourning the death of his twin, and attempting to establish a relationship with Natty based on shared loneliness. Please, please, please tell me what you think of it?

In other notes, the collaboration project has slowed a bit, but is coming along nonetheless. I predict it's arrival this spring. Kaydeeblu and I are ecstatic about it.

There is more sex to come, but not just yet.

 **Chapter 9**

"Rampage isn't exactly _choice_ when it comes to handling delicate things. He's more of a smash and go kind of 'Con, Commander Soundwave." I leaned my head back into the pilot's seat of the black jet, gazing out at the stars above me no longer filtered by atmosphere as Skyfire drifted in a low orbit. We were awaiting our next assignment, and I was lodging my complaints. If Rampage killed or maimed the Witwickys, I didn't want any of it to come back on me.

"Rampage selected for assignment. Megatron's orders," the Communications Officer replied.

 _Great_. I frowned into the sea of star dotted blackness. "Did no one think to explain to our leader how fragile my species is?"

"Livewire purported to be expert on Human Organics."

"In other words if Rampage fucks this up, I'm still at fault."

"Probability of that outcome 92.89 %."

"Nice," I breathed through clenched teeth. "Can you at least keep tabs on him? Maybe assign someone to shepherd him along so he _doesn't_ 'squish the squishies?' As he's so fond of saying."

"Negative. Poor allocation of resources."

"Well, then. Send him a message or something. Remind him to be cautious with his cargo. They must survive to be useful." I tapped my fingers on Sky's console. "I swear to _GAWD_ , Commander Soundwave, if I go down for his idiocy, I'm taking him out _first._ I **promise** you that."

"Noted."

Skyfire joined the conversation, "What is next, Commander."

"Reposition to desert location. Coordinates same as The Fallen. Report to Aerial Commander Starscream."

"Roger that. We will comply." With that, the jet nosedived back into the atmosphere. I grimaced, gripping the pilot seat enough to dent it. Sky passed the uncomfortable twinge I was causing him through our connected spark, but I didn't loosen my grip. I hated flying, but more than that, I hated reentry from space. The black jet, on the other hand, _loved_ the sensation. His glee sought to overrun my terror. It was a strange and disconcerting mix of emotions, not all of them mine. His excitement and exhilaration vying with my fears and horrific flashbacks. I squeezed my eyes shut against the assault of vibrations, noise, and the brilliant flames crawling over his outer skein. Torn between clutching at the interior of the cockpit and burying my face in my own hands, I opted for a faceplate in the HUD instead. The jet rocked side to side, startled, but otherwise made no acknowledgement. When he finally dropped to the ground with a resounding thud, I was nearly blacked out. My shuddering body was deposited in the sand at his feet, dim awareness of other mechs in the area circling my consciousness.

I simply curled into a ball and laid still, playing possum. Conversations took place over my head, but I was in no shape to acknowledge them. Time passed and the sun burned into my metals and scorched exposed flesh. Waves of nausea crashed over me and eventually subsided. A sense of normalcy was finally replacing the vertigo when a shadow passed over my eyelids. My eyes blinked open to find Laserbeak hovering in my face. He chittered wordlessly.

"What?" I croaked. His head bobbed and tilted to one side, but he said nothing. "Fuck off then."

"Rampage is… _playing_ with your hostages."

I cringed. That could only mean one thing. "Rampage!" I screeched, visions of blood pooled around flattened bodies chasing me to my feet. Stumbling a few steps forward, I paused and glanced over my shoulder at the bird shaped mech. "Where is that moron?" He spread one wing, pointing to my right and I darted away. "Rampage! No playing with your food!" As I raced across the heated desert sand, weaving through abandoned ruins, I caught sight of Rumble in his red and gray protoform, legs dangling from his perch on a half crumbled wall. His head snapped up when I ran passed, and returned to cleaning his weaponry a second later.

"Rampage!" I called, again. The sound of a man and woman yelling mild curses confirmed Laserbeak's warning. I rounded another decrepit wall to find the red mech on his spring, bouncing in dangerous circles around the two humans. "Knock it off, dumbass!"

"Squishies go squish! Squishies go squish!" He chanted like a mantra.

"You don't quit and _you're_ gonna go _offline_!" I countered, pulling my EMP cannon from subspace and charging it to full capacity.

"He isn't hurting them." I recognized that voice. Judging by the way Rampage jerked around and into a submissive posture, he hadn't detected Starscream's presence either.

With a hissed, " _Fuck_ ," I whirled in an about face, dropped into a kneel, but did not disarm my weapon. The barrel of the cannon was intentionally pointed at the red menace beside me. The Witwicky's stood stunned and momentarily speechless—for which I was grateful.

Starscream was perched on a precarious rooftop that looked completely incapable of holding his bulky frame, but somehow managed the miracle anyway. He continued with a flick of long taloned fingers, "Let him play."

"Commander Starscream," I kept my head bowed low, but raised my eyes enough to keep tabs on the wily Decepticon Second. "Rampage is reckless and irresponsible at best. You above all Decepticons have said as much. His 'play' will surely kill them or at least render them useless as hostages."

The Seeker shifted his weight on his perch, small bits of debris crumbling off the wall beneath him. He had already made up his mind. This hostage thing was Megatron's idea. Megatron sanctioned asking me for methods of coercion. Megatron sent Rampage and I to collect the Witwicky's. Starscream would only seek to undermine the effort. I had to change tactics here and fast. "You would dare dispute my word?" He was building up to a full blown tirade and I would be the target of his ire.

"No! No, Commander! The frailty of such a lowly species is obviously not something you should ever be concerned with. I merely spoke to remind _Rampage_ of his place in this mission." Okay, it was weak at best, but with any luck, I may have thrown the F-22 off balance.

Red optics narrowed as he screeched, "Are you daft? Or do you think that _I_ am?"

Then again, maybe not.

"She's right!" My head snapped to the side where Ron Witwicky stood protectively in front of his trembling wife. "This… this Rampage guy" the mentioned mech growled, "is 'playing' too rough. My wife already has a sprained ankle from his treatment and if he keeps going the way he is, there won't be much left of either of us to use for whatever you have planned. You need us alive, right?" he gazed imploringly up at the Seeker Commander. _Mother of Gawd he's gonna get himself killed_! "We're more than willing to cooperate, but we can't do anything if he kills us."

I could feel the boiling rage rolling off the flyer. Time to act! On my feet in an instant, I stomped to the human, shoving my EMP cannon into his belly. The most it would do was tingle and make his hair stand on end, but, with luck, Starscream was paying little attention to which of my weapons I held. And the man had no clue of his relative safety from it. Yelling into his face, strictly for show, "You would dare address Lord Starscream, Commander of the skies and Lord Master, second only to the Great Megatron himself?" In a whisper, I hissed, "Shut the hell up, stupid. Before he decides to 'squish the squishies' himself! But _he'll_ do it in small increments."

Starscream jumped down from his perch in a spray of sand, leaning close to where the three of us stood. "If you were not required to be both alive and in good condition, _insect_ , I would teach you myself the meaning of respect among Deceptions." Straightening, he shot a vicious glare in what I imagined must have been Megatron's distant direction. "Instruct them on proper behavior, _mutant_." _Your life depends on it,_ went unspoken _._

I watched him stroll off waiting for enough space to safely divulge my secret. Throwing a glare at Rampage, I snapped, "Get lost, Fucktard." He grumbled in Cybertronian about failed experiments and mutants, but bounced in another direction anyway. When both mechs were well out of earshot, I confessed, keeping my voice low, "This wouldn't have hurt you." I lifted the cannon for them to see it clearly, aimed straight up. "It's strictly Electromagnetic Pulse. Unless you have a pacemaker; it's harmless to humans."

Ron glared daggers at me, his mouth set in a tight line, highlighting his clenched jaw. I held my hands out in surrender. "It may be hard to believe, right now, but I'm on your side."

"You-! You helped them capture us!" Judy snarled. Her fists clenched and she lunged forward, stopped only by her husband's arm and whispered plea for restraint.

I glared at her. But then I softened, reminding myself that they had no way of knowing what I've done on their behalf. "No. I went along as an advisor to make sure dumbfuck didn't hurt you unnecessarily. Which he undeniably would have, had I not been there. Just as he would have a moment ago if I hadn't intervened." Flinging my cannon wielding arm out to the side I continued my rant, "I just put my life on the line standing up to the Decepticons' Second in Command. Who, by the way, _really, really, really_ wants to step on you both."

"Such a potty mouth," Judy growled. "You kiss your mother with that mouth?"

I pulled up short, rage making my frame tremble. It was necessary to take several deep breaths and count to ten before I could respond. "You know what, lady? 'Walk a mile in my shoes' and then we'll talk about linguistic offenses. You have NO IDEA what my life is like. The way I fucking talk is the only way I can really fly in their faces without getting killed. It's how I remind them that I'm _fucking human_ and I NEVER WANTED TO BE HERE." My chest was heaving. I took a moment to catch my breath before continuing in a softer tone, "I'm a prisoner too. The things I do… I don't have a choice. There's more at stake than just my own life, or I would have ended it years ago." Both humans stared at me. "I tried to defect to the Autobots, but Prowl… he wouldn't take the trade. So I had to stay with the Decepticons. I do what I can to protect this world from my faction. I do what I can."

"Oh my god," Judy breathed.

"I don't believe it," Ron said. "I don't believe the Autobots would just turn you away like that."

"It wasn't me they turned away, it was Skyfire. But my life is entirely dependent on his. If he dies or we're separated by too great a distance, it will kill me. Where he goes, I am bound to follow. I have no choice." I tapped my chest. "His spark keeps me alive."

"How did you end up like this?" Judy was moving to embrace me, but I shrank back, turning away from her.

"Don't. They'll see it as weakness and kill all three of us for it. _Slowly_. Look, none of that matters now, what's important is keeping you two alive for the time being. Don't talk to any of the Decepticons. They all take it as an insult, and they kill for the smallest slight. Neither of you have any way to defend yourselves, so just be quiet. Do what you're told immediately and keep your head down. Don't look at them. Not even the little ones." I held my hand out, palm down, indicating a diminutive size. I regarded them both for a moment. "Are you hungry?" They nodded, eyes downcast. "You can talk to me like this. When there's no one around. Just don't touch me, okay? I can get you something, but I gotta warn ya—it tastes awful."

They both murmured nonsense about eating a dead camel at this point and I snickered. They might change their minds when they taste Skyfire's horrible shakes. I bid them stay, pointing out the guards and their ability to catch the two should they try to run. When I returned, both Witwickys were exactly where I'd left them. The shakes were received as well as I'd expected, but they were starved enough to choke them down anyway, offering their sympathies to the fact that I subsisted entirely on these nutrition substitutes and energon supplements. By small degrees, the pair began to let down their guard around me. Ron finally stopped shielding his wife from my gaze and she managed to make her way around his bulkier frame, although she shied away from close proximity to me. That was just as well. I wasn't trying to make friends, I just wanted to keep them alive until they could be rescued or traded.

"Do you have any water?" Judy asked. "It's terribly hot out here."

My gaze flicked up to her from where I was sitting in the sand, adjusting the tension in my leg's cabling. "Sit in the shade." I pointed to the crumbling building Starscream had been standing atop. She shot me a stern look, opened her mouth to grouse at me, and then snapped it shut, dropping her gaze in haste. I stared at her for a second before realizing someone was approaching. A quick scan revealed Rumble's energy signature.

He bounced over the wall I was sheltered behind, kicking sand at me in his landing. I brushed it off, muttering, "Fucker," and noting Judy's flinch. She was struggling not to comment on my cursing. The gray and red mech sauntered over to the two humans watching them cringe in his shadow.

"What are you doing here, Natty?"

"Babysitting. What are _you_ doing here?" Ron snuck a peek at the Decepticon earning a face full of sand from a swift kick. "Leave him alone, Rum," exasperation laced my tone.

He twisted to glare at me. Red optics lit with a backfire of remembered fury, pulling his frame around fully in my direction. "Are you _protecting_ them?" he sneered. "Did you forget what humans did to you? Did you forget who _they_ are? You choose _them_ over us?" _What would Frenzy think,_ hung in the air between us. The pang of that reminder burned itself into my chest.

I sighed, letting my head loll to the side as my eyes rolled up to settle on him. "Rum. If anything happens to them, Megatron said _I_ will be held responsible. Rampage was trying to squish them. I'm not goin' down for that ass."

He stalked toward me. "You insist on talking like them." Every line of his frame seethed. "You attack your own allies…"

"Damnit, Rum!" I jumped to my feet. "It was an accident! You _grabbed_ me. Fucking, let it go!" The tape placed himself nose to nose with me; his armor vibrated with the strength of his rage as he grabbed me by the neck. I shoved hard at his shoulder, dismayed that it barely moved. He blamed me for everything. It seemed he would _never_ let it go. Maybe he was right. I dropped my gaze just as he drew back and let his fist fly. Knocked to the ground, I wiped the blood from my mouth and shot him a irritated glare as I scrambled back to my feet. Rumble wasted no time advancing again, sending me to my hands and knees with a combo punch. A solid kick to my stomach threw me flat on my back. Ice and fire lanced through my torso, mirroring the sting in my face.

This time, I diverted my stubborn glare in a display of submission. "Rum, I…" I had to pause for a coughing fit. Arms laced around my agonized middle, I rolled to my side gasping, "I get it now. Barricade lied because of me." My eyes squeezed shut with a new wave of nausea filled pain. My jaw clenched and I continued through gritted teeth, "It _was_ my fault. You'd have his whole body if it weren't for me." It was hard to talk this much, but I had to tell him these things. "I get it. At the time, I blamed 'Cade, but really… It's my fault, isn't it?"

" _Entirely_."

He stood back, watching as I rolled to my knees, coughed some more and then stood on shaky legs. My body trembled with the effort of standing, fighting back whimpers from what he had already done to me, I braced for more. Crimson optics settled on my face, seared with rage, and in a flash he swiped my feet out from under me. My breath gushed out and failed to return. Again I found myself flat on my face, struggling to get up. When I finally found my feet, staggering and swaying, he gripped my wrist in one hand, twisting it behind me in a painful hold that pulled me off balance to the rear. He leaned over me, making me completely dependent upon his grip to remain upright. I stared helplessly into his burning red optics. Instinct screamed that I should fight back, or at least defend myself, but Rumble needed to punish something and he was hell bent that it should be me. For Frenzy's sake, I would endure this. Maybe it would put Rumble and I to rights again, as well.

"Rum…" hesitantly I reached up to touch at his chest armor with my free hand. He jerked back, shrugging off my touch. But I had nothing more to lose. All the hurt, all the loneliness, all the pent up frustration… " "Rum, you're his brother…" I couldn't say it aloud; it would be weakness. And despite the pain that racked my body from his punishment, I let my eyes plead with the mech, my lover's twin. I needed his forgiveness. I needed his companionship. I needed _him_. Somewhere, deep within, I felt a tiny lurch. It was a feathering of touch along the edge of my spark splinter, and it _hurt_. Strange and disconcerting, this feeling had a familiarity to it that seemed off at the same time. It echoed of Frenzy's invasive consciousness during our interfacing years ago. But it _wasn't_ Frenzy. My eyes widened. Rumble suddenly looked away from me, glaring hell-fire at the wall behind me. "Rum…?" He dropped me in a tangle of limbs.

Looking up into those crimson optics, I saw more than just anger. There was an agony smoldering behind it.

We stayed this way, the seconds stretching out like hours, as his anger subdued by slow increments. "You… you never completed the bond, Natty."

I shook my head, "What do you mean?"

"We were twins. You never completed it." When I frowned at him, he explained further, "With _both_ of us."

"I don't understand." Pulling myself into a stand was a difficult feat this time, but I managed with clenched teeth and several pained groans. My circuits squealed staticky fire and searing pain. My nerves echoed the same.

"Frenzy an me. We were spark twins. When you bonded with him, you were part way bonded to me. But you never finished it." He tapped his chest with his fingertips, "When I'm near you… It _twists_ inside. You made it worse by not finishing the bond."

My jaw dropped at this rare confession. Gazing at him, I imagined I _could_ see the pain behind the anger. And maybe, just maybe, my loneliness was mirrored there too. I shook my head, not fully grasping the enormity of what he was saying. He frowned, then shoved me away. I stumbled back and fell, the sand a harsh cushion to my aching knees. As he stalked off, I called out to him, "Rumble!"

A gray palm shot out, halting anything further I might say. "Now ain't the time for it, Natty," he growled.

I watched him go. Stunned at the revelation. Raw emotion from a Decepticon was unheard of. Forgotten were the two humans staring in confusion at the scene that had played out before them. We had been speaking in the Decepticon dialect of Cybertronian; they were not likely to understand any of what was said.

Judy cleared her throat. My gaze flicked back to her. I pulled a couple bottles of water out of my subspace and tossed it to them without a word. Then plopped onto my rear to looked over my injuries.

Ron's voice threaded tentative concern and alarm across the space between us. Small and frail, I barely noticed he had spoken at first, "Are… are you okay?"

I was hugging my legs to my chest, fighting off waves of pain as my repair systems worked on my wounds. Through the clench of my jaw, I bit off an answer, "Yeah. Fine." My one mechanoid optic was casting strange reddish shadows over the mounds of sand in front of me.

"What was that about?" He ventured. I lifted my head off my knees to stare at him. The pair pulled closer together.

After a time, Judy's hushed voice carried to me from where she huddled with her husband on a pair of wool blankets I had found in the ruins. "I don't understand…" Stars blazed a cold light in the dark of night lending an eerie glow to the bleached desert sands and mixing with the blood red light from my one mechanical eye. I paused in reconnecting a circuit board to my right side, not bothering to look over at her. "How did you lose faith in your own species when it was the Decepticons that did… _this_ … to you."

Ron snapped a quick, "Judy!" but she waved him off.

My systems stuttered at the sudden crush of disturbing memories that came unbidden in response to her query. I chose to relate to her on a more personal level. "Do you know, that right now, there is a world wide search for your son—not to protect him, but rather to hand him over. _For the greater good._ Individual humans are noble, compassionate. Humans on a grand scale are fickle and selfish. This world would prefer to turn in a young man, on the very cusp of his adult life, _to aliens_ , in blatant terror of what _might_ happen, instead of hiding the boy and defending the planet." I turned to face the woman, regarding her silent assimilation of that information. "What do you think scientists and militaries would do to me in the state I'm in? I am a definitive amalgam of human flesh and that coveted Cybertronian technology this planet has been denied by both factions." I shook my head, returning to the soldering. "It would not end well for me."

Ron spoke up, defiance lifting his tone, "The Autobots are hiding my son."

I held up my smallest fingers to emphasize the point. " _Three_ of the Autobots are hiding him. The rest are hiding _themselves_." I corrected.

"What… what happened with you and the little… robot thing? Why did it attack you?" She was intentionally changing the subject, likely for the sake of her husband's nerves. His blood pressure had skyrocketed when I explained his son's precarious situation.

I snickered despite how much it hurt to do so, "'Robot thing.' Don't ever call him that again. He'll kill you for it."

She drew in a sharp breath, but pressed the issue. "Who was that? Why did it just beat on you? I mean I thought it was going to kill you."

"Rumble. _His_ name is Rumble. His brother and I…" No, I didn't want to say it out loud. Especially not to humans. Not yet. "It's complicated."

"Well incase you hadn't noticed," she snarked, "I have time."

"Yes you do, don't you." I shrugged. "Rumble is mad at me because his brother's head was in Sector Seven possession and Barricade lied about it."

"What does that have to do with you?"

"Cade lied because I wanted him to kill me, but _he_ wanted me to infiltrate your son's University."

"I still don't get it." She made a wry, sour lemon face. "Wait—you were at the University? With Sam?"

I smirked. "Yeah. Mikaela hit me with a car. Then she ran over me." In a quieter tone I muttered, " _Really_ don't like that bitch."

"Mikaela's such a nice girl. I really like her." I scowled at the woman. She bravely waved a hand in dismissal and said, "Well? Why did you want this, Barra—whatever to kill you and how on Earth did lying about someone's head motivate you to go to school?"

Oh, what the hell. Exasperation motivating me, I blurted out, "Rumble's brother was my sparkmate. Kinda like a spouse, if you will. I wanted to die when he did. Barricade had other plans, so he lied about who had Frenzy's head. He told us all that your son had it so I would go after him. And Rumble's pissed at me for that."

There was a stunned silence from the two and I found myself peering over at them to make sure they were still breathing.

That wasn't the entire truth, as I now knew. Rumble was indeed angry over the deception and he still blamed me for it, but there was more to the whole thing than just that. He'd been shaking in both anger _and agony_ as he confessed the deeper source of his fury. He needed that bond completed, whether he wanted it or not, it was a thing left undone. Something Frenzy left behind for his twin to finish. His words rang through me again, _it twists inside_ … There was such pain in his voice.

I knew next to nothing about spark twins and their relationship to each other. Frenzy had kept me from his brother, but at the outset of things, Rumble told me they shared everything. What did that mean for me? Another possibility occurred to me: If they were spark twins, could there be pieces of Frenzy left in Rumble's spark? And whether or not that were true, would it be possible to find solace for my searching heart in the brother of my bonded? I'd been feeling a steady pull to him, increasing in intensity as time went on. When Rumble was not around, I found that I sorely _missed_ him. Up till now, I'd attributed it to companionship and loneliness. Could it be more than that? Did it have something to do with this "finishing the bond" business he'd been going on about?

I sighed, my thoughts shifting back to the humans shivering several feet away from me. "You should try to get some sleep now. They're gonna trigger the battle tomorrow to draw Sam out. Which means you two will be in play."


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

It was down right mean, cruel even, and I didn't want to do it, but the other Decepticons were watching. Not openly, of course. The air was awash with enough sensor scans that I had to fight against autonomic defenses to keep my stealth mods from activating. So with that in mind, I kicked sand in Ron's face to wake him up. He spluttered, scrambling half way into a sit and dropping his wife from her snug position across his chest.

"Get up," I said, tone flat. "It's time."

He scowled at me, but a tap of my fingers on the barrel of my EMP cannon reminded him of his place here and he lowered his gaze to the ground. Nodding acquiescence, he managed to cut off Judy's grumpy protests telling her everything would be alright and that the Autobots would soon be here to get them.

I rolled my eyes. These two just couldn't stay out of trouble. Bringing up a rescue from our enemies forced my hand. The rest of the Decepticons were watching, after all. Listening. If I didn't do something about that, it could be labeled as treason.

I brought the back of my metal hand across Ron's cheek, watching him twist to the side and fall to the sand. Advancing on Judy, I grabbed her by the neck, forcing her to her knees. Loud enough for all the prying audial receptors to be satisfied, I hissed in her trembling face, "I've watched over you, fed you, gave you water and shelter—and you want to go on about your hopes of an Auto-scum rescue? Do you not realize where you are? Optimus is _dead_ , dumbass. The Autobots are scattered to the winds and NEST is disbanded. _We_ are now your only hope. Your very life is at the mercy of The Fallen and his Decepticon army. And you would act so disrespectfully in his very camp?! If you weren't needed _alive_ , I'd kill you both were you stand!"

My voice dropped to the faintest whisper, "Don't make me do this again. I take no joy in treating you this way." Judy nodded fervently, her hands clasped in a silent plea. "Get him up," I snapped, straightening and stepping back from the two.

"Less than they deserved," Ravaged growled from behind me. I whipped around, trying not to appear as alarmed as I felt that the feline mech had snuck up on me. He was sprawled across the top of the crumbled wall I had been resting against the night before.

"Rav," I chirped. "I fucking missed you! Hell, I even missed _Barricade_! If Rampage doesn't die in the battle, do you think we can just kill him outright for stupidity?" Diversion. It's a tactic I'm actually good at.

"Rampage serves a purpose," the tape's tail flicked down the side of the wall, then curled in on itself.

"Yeah, not really. I beg to differ."

"Rampage is part of the combiner team, Devastator."

"He's only a foot. Devastator can hop on one leg, can't he? He's big enough, I really don't think he'd miss the imbecile."

Ravage simply watched me, indicating he was done with this line of conversation.

" _Whatever_ ," I snarked with a wave of one hand. "Where is spring-ass, anyway?"

The large feline mech turned his head, singular optic gazing off to one side distantly. I shrugged and turned to the humans holding on to each other in the dawning light. "Hungry?"

"You're feeding them?" Ravage snarled, his head jerked back in incredulity.

"That nasty shit Sky gives me." Tossing a sly smile over my shoulder at him, I added, "If Rampage bounces around too much his cargo may repaint his internal hold."

A dark chuckle emanated from the Decepticon tape. I pulled a couple of the mentioned shakes from subspace and handed them over before bringing my own out. Sam's parents choked most of the greenish stuff down dutifully, ever mindful of the cat mech's observance. That was a good thing. Perhaps I'd managed to impress upon them their precarious status after all. I collected the emptied containers, subspaced them, and motioned for the humans to follow me.

As we walked along the ruins, I tossed a couple bottles of water to Ron. "Put these in your shirt or something. You won't get anything more from here on out and that Constructicon doesn't really care if you dehydrate."

"Where are we going now?" He whispered back.

"Find Rampage," I replied. We stopped in an alleyway of sorts, tall crumbling walls to either side of the narrow passageway. An about-face brought me around to address the two captives. Keeping my voice low, I warned them, "Look. This is gonna be very ugly. With luck— _a whole lotta luck_ —the Autobots will get you the hell outta here. After the battle begins, if you see your chance, take it. Get as far away as possible. The Fallen hates our kind. He's gonna kill all of us. Even me, no doubt. He wants to destroy our sun to harvest the energy from it." I scrubbed one hand over my face and looked away.

"Truth is… Once this begins, the end of Earth will be soon after. There's no escaping it. Not even your Autobot buddies will be able to get away. You should probably just grab your son and spend your last hours with him." I couldn't look at them. I couldn't face them after that admission.

"What… What will _you_ do?" Judy. Always worried about other people's business. Maybe she really was that concerned, but I kinda figured it was more likely she wanted in on whatever escape plan I might have. That could just be my own bias based on the company I keep, though.

"I'll be here helping them gather the energy."

"And then?"

I shrugged, still unable to look at her. I turned my back to them, but paused before marching forward. "Just get yourselves out of the line of fire right away. I can't protect you after the battle starts."

Grey Cybertronian armor ticked with heat expansion in the desert sun. Rumble was sprawled next to me, rifle sighted to the fight we were watching from our position high up on a rooftop. Bumblebee had interceded on the Witwickys' behalf and laid waste to Rampage. I wasn't sorry. Figured I'd have to send the Autobots a "thank you" card or something. But a flash of silver caught my attention and I repositioned the rifle I'd borrowed from Rumble—the two linked together and latched to his back, forming his jetpack. It was an identical setup to Frenzy's. One of these days I should get Skyfire to rig up something similar for me, but flying just ain't my thing anymore. Blackout put a definitive end to that.

The silver blurred and then focused into clarity, taking the form of Ravage prowling the rooftops behind the yellow bot as he dealt the final blow to Rampage. Judy and Ron darted down an alleyway dragging Sam and Mikaela with them. I watched the cat mech's legs bunch and coil beneath his lithe frame moments before he sprang onto Bumblebee's shoulders. Yellow arms flailed and the Decepticon leaped from one side to the other pulling and tender wiring and snapping cabling. But my heart stopped—or it would have if I'd still had one—when one black and yellow hand gripped Ravage by the nape of the neck. He was ripped away from his position of attack and—

" _RAVAGE! NO!_ "

My screech rent the dusty air of the battlefield. I could hear the clank of metal sliding over stone next to me, but all that registered in my mind was the sickly green lubricants dripping from the exposed spinal strut of my close friend and mentor and flicked from the Autobot's black and yellow fingers. Ravage's armor, pistons, wiring, arms, legs, and head dropped to the ground in silent, slow motion, detached from his spine that now dangled from Bumblebee's hand. Gray arms wrapped around me, one capturing me in a tight hold around my chest and the other clamping a gray mitt over my mouth to silence my screams.

I flailed as Rumble rolled us both off the refuge of our roof. We fell in a tangle of bodies to the heated sands below with a muffled thump. He promptly pinned me to the ground, one arm wrapped around my torso the other hand still covered my mouth. Fiery red optics glared into my face as he hissed, "Shut. Up."

I reached up and tugged his hand away, whispering back, "R-Ravage! Rum, he's—he's—"

"— _Gone_ ," Rumble stretched his long legs over mine, so that I could not kick or escape, and shook my shoulders. "He's gone, Natalia."

Blood drained from my face. My eyes widened, threatening to pop out of my head. Nobody knew my real name. Only a handful even knew my nickname, but _nobody_ knew my real name. The implications were frightening. I'd never connected with Rumble, that meant Frenzy… but I'd never _told_ Frenzy… He must hacked my memories. Probably while I was asleep—damn him!—all those times I'd connected with him and just left the cable in while I fell asleep… thinking I was safe with him… _and he told Rumble_! The next devastating thought was, _how much_ had Frenzy told Rumble?

My shoulders were slapped into the unforgiving sand a few more times as my head thumped listlessly along with them. Rumble punctuated each harsh word with a ground-ward slam, "Focus. On. The. Fight!"

I drew a shaky breath and nodded, too stunned to react further. With a grace that was two parts demonic and one part angelic, the gray tape rose to his feet and darted into the fray. All I could do was lay there limp in the itchy sand clutching Rumble's rifle to my chest and staring into a dazzling blue desert sky. Seeker engines roared overhead. Starscream let loose an Electro Magnetic Pulse that would effectively offline all of NEST's communications. Soundwave was somewhere in space redirecting satellites. Concussive blasts thundered all around from plasma cannons on both sides. Dirt and rubble sprayed against the ruins of the abandoned town. And I lay there, numb, gazing into the bright blue sky.

 _Focus on the fight._ My mind was a million light years away from the battle raging around me. I scrambled to my feet, catching sight of Jetfire teleporting in and out of the alleys nearby as I did so. The doddering old mech was a hellion of blinding motion, his agility suddenly remembered in the thick of things. I ran the other way. No sense in getting under that one's feet. Thoughts of what Frenzy may have accessed while I slept raced through my head.

Thus distracted, I did not see the blue mech until a pair of electric coils whipped past me on either side. I froze. He stared. His entire frame crackled with far more current than I could ever summon. One foot behind the other, I took a few halting steps backwards until the Autobot rippled those electric whips over the ground again. Rumble's rifle was still clutched tight to my chest, but there was no way to pull it to my shoulder and take aim before I could be disarmed and electrocuted. I had no doubt this bot could fry my circuits—his charging batteries were bigger than I was! A frown framed my face as I glanced down at the thick, crackling coils running past my feet. Fight or flight, my only real option was flight. In a rush, I threw up my cloak and engaged all the dampeners at my disposal. The mech jerked in surprise at my sudden disappearance, scanned the area for me and ran off to face another Decepticon.

At the other side of an open expanse, orange smoke drifted lazily skyward in thick, bright colored contrast to the raging battle. Overhead, Warthogs, Falcons, and Eagles screamed in on their target, growling out massive ammunition tipped with high melt phosphorus to penetrate Cybertronian armor. The Fallen teleported in to the swirling chaos surrounding the colored cloud and then out to the top of a pyramid. Devastator was hard at work, suctioning away layers of stone bricks covering the world ending device. Optimus rolled to his feet and everything else came to a halt. The universe itself seemed to hold it's collective breath, waiting on the outcome. All the fighting had ceased.

I climbed to another rooftop, watching as Optimus Prime went from the dead mech flung at the desert's mercy to vengeance incarnate, wreaking havoc on the Fallen and the pyramid alike. In a few very brief moments, the world ending device was destroyed, the Fallen slain, and Megatron followed Starscream's advice to "fight another day." It was an anticlimactic ending for me. But I was still shocked by the revelations produced by Rumble's utterance of my name. And Ravage's death. That damned yellow scout had squished him like a juiced orange!

A black shape darkened my view of the aftermath. I looked up into Skyfire's face. He plucked me off my perch and limped in the direction of a series of caves from which the boy and his Autobot entourage had emerged. It was not likely that the Autobots would be heading back there, they already had their matrix, Optimus was revived, and they had wounded to tend and dead to bury. Judging by the limp and the long rip in his wing, Sky wasn't flying anywhere soon. We took refuge in the caverns that night with a scant few injured Decepticons joining us. No one spoke a word.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

The wall of the cave was cool against my metal arm. Stars burned white, red, and faint blue in the night sky. There was no moon out tonight to cast its sullen light on the restless sands. Shadows shifted in the darkness behind me. We'd failed, and I had never been so grateful to be defeated in all my life. I could feel Sky's muted pain in the back of my mind. He was enduring Hook's ministrations. I didn't envy him. Wings, he had once told me, were terribly sensitive, and one of his had been ripped nearly in half. It was currently being welded back on. But Sky was no fool, he would not be put to sleep for the procedure. _Nobody_ trusted Hook enough to take their eyes off him, let alone, being anesthetized under his care.

A gentle breeze whispered along the dunes, babbling of things once seen, now long dead. This was an ancient land. The cradle of humanity, some called it. I had to wonder how much of that was influenced by the predecessors of my current companions. Cybertron seemed to have quite a steep involvement with Earth—and humans in particular. My gaze swept the desert searching for signs of life. I'd been posted as the night watch, since I was relatively unharmed. It promised to be a long silent night.

My fingers worked through my hair with idle attention. The tangles were gritty and my scalped itched like mad from all the sand. I'd damn near kill for a shower right now. And a cheeseburger. And a big fat slice of chocolate cake. With a soda to wash it down. Clean clothes. Hell, while I'm thinking wishfully, I might as well add my old life into the mix. An unbidden image of Frenzy and Rumble dancing and laughing in their quarters on Cybertron rippled through my thoughts. I missed him terribly. Both of them. I found myself craving Rumble's attention in lieu of Frenzy. Zee was gone. But Rumble remained. And, for some reason I couldn't explain, the latter saturated my thoughts. Was it simply desperation and loneliness trying to make the best out of a bad situation? Would I have ever given them a chance had I the opportunity to return to Earth entirely human?

I shook my head to rattle those thoughts loose and clear my mind.

The breeze picked up in its meandering and sprayed dust in my face. I blinked, squinting reflexively against the assault. It died down as quickly as it had come, though, leaving silent, stalking shapes in its wake. The dark lines moved jerkily against the smooth background of the dunes. More Decepticons. Injured, by looks of their staggering. I scanned for energy signatures, not expecting to find anything, but apparently one of the tall figures was openly broadcasting. Stupid. Any Autobots or NEST teams in the area would be tracking them.

I leaned back against the cave wall with a heavy sigh. That dumbass was gonna get himself killed by his fellows if he didn't do something about his energy signal. Minutes passed. I watched the shadowy shapes trek ever closer. He was still broadcasting. I clicked on an open comm line, "I can see you." The procession stopped. They were still too far away for me to see them clearly, but after a second of deliberation, there was a dog pile and the sound of rending metals followed by a puff of faint light dissipating into the cool night air. My head dropped forward. They were Decepticons, but that didn't make their savagery any easier to witness.

Broken and leaking mechs filed into the cave, giving me no acknowledgement. That was always better than being noticed by angry and defeated Cons. I kept my gaze low, and my attention high. They dragged the body of their comrade into the cave for spare parts. A quick glance identified him as one of the Constructicons. Hook would not be happy.

The last to enter the cavern opening was a smaller shape, closer my own height. I watched him with a certainty. Rumble. His crimson optics glowed with frustration and deep seated pain. He'd be mourning Ravage like I was. The red glare fixed on me and his strides took on a determined purpose.

"… Rum…" I whispered. He flinched as he approached, but never slowed, one hand reaching out to me. That hand swiftly circled my neck and slammed me into the rock behind. Stunned, I dropped his rifle. It clattered at his feet and he smoothly kicked it aside, his optics never wavering from my face. He set an identical rifle next to the first and stared at me for a second. The feral expression on his face made me wary and I pressed back into the rock. His mouth plates were drawn taut and his brow ridges were pulled down. He shoved me up the cave wall just an inch or two above his own gaze so that I was looking down into his stricken face. My feet dangled between his legs. It was rare to see Rumble in this state. I really had no idea what he would do next.

One gray paw tugged at the front clasp of my trousers and as he slipped a connector between my skin and my clothing, I realized with a jolt what he was going for. I thrashed, kicking and punching at him, but he merely pushed his body into mine, flattening me to the rock behind. Fear gripped me—fear of what he might do to me. His mouth twisted into a fearsome snarl. I gasped, trying to shove away from him and stopped by the barrier at my back. He used one knee joint to force my legs open enough and plunged that connector home.

The immediate flood of _need_ was overwhelming. His desperate, drowning, aching need. Mentally I recoiled. This was followed by his flash of irritation and then a forced calm. That was more frightening than being thrown against the wall. Slow, cautious tendrils of edgy desire unfurled across the connection. They held a familiar flavor. It tasted of Frenzy—but not Frenzy. Alarmed, I bucked against the intrusion. But those strands of feeling snared me and pulled me in. Gently. Tenderly. I railed against it. Velvety want washed over me, calling to me, wordlessly begging for an emotional connection. Concupiscence lanced through the strange softness of the Decepticon's mental touch, and I was ebbing into it despite myself.

Frenzy always spoke to me; Rumble wasn't using any words at all. Frankly, I didn't know what to do with that. His searing craving awakened in me a response in kind. It had been so long since I'd basked in an intimate embrace, I wanted it with unnatural force. The internal caress shifted to warmer, hungrier hues. My resolve slipped. Echoes of Frenzy's consciousness wrapped around me. My body slid down the rock wall. Gray hands found their way under my shirt, over my breasts, massaging down along my hips. My palms pressed flat against Rumble's chest armor before creeping into a seam and running along delicate wiring and sensors.

He kissed me, chaste and hesitant, exploding into deep and devouring. And I melted against him. There was a sudden surge of sensual heat across the connection. It lit long dormant fires within my soul and I rushed into the tide with reckless abandon. Rumble wouldn't hurt me. Rumble _wanted_ me. It was a bizarre thing to think, but it held true. He rocked me with wave after wave of ecstatic desire and I soaked it all in, riding the luscious backdraft further and further into his delicious embrace. I could feel him snicker at how willingly I was handing myself over to him now. He was feeling smug in his delight. But that was okay, it was worth it.

The pains and frustrations of battle fell away from us both like so much dried mud crumbling off a moving body. He began nipping at my neck. I gasped at the little stings as each one further heightened the pleasure I was already wading in. The sensory feedback I gave made him jump, armor softly rattling, and then he attacked that erogenous zone with a fury, thoroughly enjoying the way it tantalized us both. Ecstasy enveloped us in its energized grasp, exciting everything it touched. Our separate consciousnesses swirled together. Feeling and thought shared between the two, becoming one and the same. I lost track of where I ended and Rumble began amongst the sheer thrilling charge of it all as pleasure built on electrified sensation and thrust us into a euphoric ebullience. I screamed into the release, my mouth firmly clamped with his hand to mute the sound. Frenzy had never fulfilled me this much. I reveled in Rumble'zs growling groan, wondering if it was simply because it had been so long since, or if Rumble was just that damn good. My eyes were slit open, head tilted back, as that thought streamed across my mind. He must have caught it, because he lifted his gaze just enough to show a haughty smirk that I could feel through the connection. His hand slipped over my jaw, holding me in place so that he could plant a simple, satisfied kiss on my mouth.

 _Finally,_ he breathed into my mind, startling me with his sudden articulation. He teased me with a chuckle.

 _What was that?_ The feel-good aftermath couldn't restrain my breathless shock at what had just taken place.

 _A long time in coming._ He snarked back.

My thoughts stuttered in response to that. What did it mean? Was this a one time thing? Would there be a repeat? I kind of hoped so. Yeah, I _definitely_ hoped so. But how did that change our relationship, or did it? Were we now friends with benefits or was this a cementing of something more? I hadn't really been aware of the how and why of it when Frenzy bonded with me—it just kinda happened. Except for the blissful peace that always followed a delicious round of fucking like this one, I didn't really feel any different…

 _You're thinking too hard._

I immediately clamped down on my mind, bringing all strings of thought to a embarrassed standstill.

 _You and me had to happen. From the first time Frenzy took you, it had to happen. That's just the way of it. Spark twins, remember?_

I stared at him. He was smirking again, one corner of his mouth smugly ticked upward. I still didn't understand it all. _Frenzy never said anything about this to me._

 _He was waiting._

My eyes widened at that. _For WHAT?_

 _You wouldn't have accepted us both. Not right away. He knew that. He was going to bring me into it later. But he died first. The bond was never completed. I've been living with that pain all this time._ He squeezed his optics closed and bowed his head. _You have no idea how much that hurts!_ His mental voice hissed with anguish.

I shuddered. He was fully open to me at the moment and I caught a glimpse of his remembered agony. It mixed with the pain of loosing his other half and tore at his very soul. My breath shivered out. _What now?_

 _You're mine, Natty. You always have been. The day Zee first claimed you-you belonged to both of us._ He slid his hand down the length of my body to pull the connector from its slot as I gave him a slow nod of acceptance. No sooner was his presence gone from my mind than I wanted it back. One more time. I clung to his armor, not wanting to let him go just yet. He flashed an amused grin, gave me a quick kiss and disentangled himself. I picked up one of his rifles as he grabbed the other and helped him fasten them onto his back where they merged to form his jet pack. I was still on watch duty for the remainder of the night. He glanced at me over his shoulder, then proceeded into the cave to find Hook and get his own assignment. My arms wrapped around my torso of their own accord as I watched him go.


End file.
